Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 4: New Beginnings
by KKataang4eva
Summary: It's 2 months after the war has ended. Things are peaceful, that is, until one insane teenage princess escapes. Now it's up to the Gaang to find her and restore peace. But will it really be that easy? *Says Aang & Katara as the characters but it follows the life of all the Avatar characters as of right now* Cannon couples, Toph&OC, Rated T for violence and stuff I will prob add.
1. Chapter 1

**Book: 4 New Beginnings**

**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender *tears flow at the realization***

**AN: This is based 2 months spanning to I don't know how long, after Aang defeats Ozai. I don't know how long this will be but hopefully I can keep it going if you guys like it! Cannon couples of course, Toph will have a relationship a year or two in and Azula and Ty Lee will show up. I don't do mushy relationships, but possibly later on. (My chapters are long, I may need to split them in half because of it, but, oh well, more avatar goodness right?) For future reference; I will refer to the group as 'Gaang". OH two more things before we start; tell me if names are spelled wrong, I did my best but sometimes I slip up! The next is my story is similar to another I found on here. It doesn't have the exact same plot but I'm saying this so you don't think I copied them! I started this LONG before I ever read their story. **

Chapter 1: Healing, Meetings, and A Bracelet (Not necessarily in that order)

The war room was hot and stuffy, and there were about twenty or so leaders from the three nations. All the men and women were trying to get out what they had to say and were growing impatient with one another. It didn't help it was a tight squeeze for the almost two dozen people. Not to mention, they were all situated around a small table.

"Omashu still needs rebuilding," a General said, slamming his fist on the table to get attention, "With King Bumi's passing, may he rest in peace, none have been able to fill his shoes and construction has stopped. Avatar Aang, could you do it?" Aang was lost in thought, these meetings dragged on and he needed a break. He couldn't wait for the trip Sokka had planned. They were all going to The Southern Water Tribe to spend time with Hakoda, Gran-Gran, and Master Pakku. To just relax. "Avatar Aang?"

"What?" Aang jerked, "Oh, no General, I couldn't. But Toph Bei Fong could. She has a knack for those things. It would have to be done next month though we, my friends and I, leave at daybreak and we won't be back for a few weeks."

"What do you mean your leaving? There is much to be done!" The Earth King stood up, "We are still in need of your services to finish rebuilding Ba Sing Se. Who could do that better then you or Master Toph?"

Aang sighed in exhaustion, "I'm only 13, I'm a kid and rebuilding the lives of the broken is hardly something I can handle right now without some sort of break. Just open the main trade routes and keep the bandits from stealing. Now is a time of rest, everyone can benefit from it, goodbye." Aang bowed to the room of stunned faces and the Fire Lord quickly followed him out of the meeting.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, "I can't handle all this by myself and I certainly can't leave. I must lead my nation."

"Put Iroh in charge for a few weeks you need a break Zuko." Aang said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. With that he left, leaving Zuko with a dumbfounded expression.

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"Hey Aang," Katara peeked her head around a wall and greeted the avatar when he walked into the house the Gaang was renting in a small fire nation village, "How was the meeting? You look exhausted!"

"Hey Katara, hey Suki," Aang waved at the Kyoshi warrior sitting of the couch, who to no ones surprise had quit putting on her warriors' uniform and stopped wearing all her makeup, Suki waved her greeting, "Terrible, terribly boring. We're leaving tomorrow morning, right?"

"I'm sorry to hear that. Actually I thought we could leave tonight, I already checked with everyone and they're okay with it, but if you'd rather leave tomorrow-"

Aang cut Katara off, "I'll pack my bag!" he said excitedly. Aang formed an air scooter and zoomed up the stairs.

"Wow, he sure looks _exhausted_." Suki said sarcastically. Katara giggled. She was finishing packing the food for the trip. Flying to her home would take a few days so there were going to be a few pit stops.

"So Suki, when are the other Kyoshi warriors coming to visit?" Katara asked curiously.

"Oh, I got a letter from them the other day. They are gong to visit us in The Southern Water Tribe. They're going to be there in a few days or so. Oh, by the way, a letter came for you, it's from Haru."

"Really? Thanks." Katara opened the letter and began reading;

_Dear Katara,_

_First and foremost, I must congratulate you on taking down Azula. I've heard many stories and in each I've heard of the great waterbending warrior who triumphed over the evil fire nation princess. I knew it could only be you. Next, my father sends his greetings and my mother thanks you again. Finally, I hope you are coming to visit soon because, well, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner sometime. You truly are an amazing person. Send Aang and Sokka my greetings._

_Haru_

Katara's eyes widened in shock; that was not what she was expecting. "What?" Suki asked eagerly. She had met Haru and was interested in what the earthbender had to say to Katara.

"Umm… Haru wants to date me." She stammered, hardly believing what she was saying.

"But aren't you in a, however weird it its, relationship with Aang?" Suki asked; just as confused as Katara. Just not for the same reasons.

"Well yes and no but… I just don't know." Aang and Katara had an odd relationship, although it made perfect sense to the two, no one else could understand what was going on. They both loved each other and everyone knew it, but with Aang being 13 and needing to restore peace he didn't have time for he relationship he craved and Katara didn't want to put him in a position he wasn't comfortable with. So for now they had an unbelievably strong friendship. "I don't know Suki. I don't like Haru, I love Aang. I don't know what to do about this." She set the note on a desk, changing her mind she crumpled it up and threw it in a waste basket. She was lost in her thoughts. Her face wrinkled with confusion on how she was going to approach all this. She shook her head and slowly continued to finish packing.

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The moon was shining brightly that night and the stars twinkled. There was a slight breeze in the air, everything felt… calm. Outside the house Appa was lying down in front of a mountain of hay. The giant bison snored gently but was woken up by familiar voices and a small thump on his saddle. Momo had been sleeping on the saddle when Aang jumped aboard and almost landed on him.

"Whoops," Aang laughed, "Sorry Momo!" The flying lemur hissed and crawled to a different corner of the saddle. Aang giggled again.

"Are we good to go Aang?" Sokka yelled from below. He was anxious to get to his home and wanted to get a move on. Letting go of Suki's hand he helped her onto the saddle. Suki could have easily done this herself but she didn't want her boyfriend to feel that he wasn't needed.

"Yeah! Are Zuko and Mai here yet?" he asked scanning the group.

"We're right here," came Zuko's voice. He and Mai were jogging, so their friends didn't have to wait to long.

"Alright let's go!" Aang said in enjoyment. As everyone piled on Katara pulled Aang aside to talk to him about Haru's letter.

"Umm… Aang… I-I have something I think you should know. But before I say it, I have to ask you a question."

"Sure, what is it?" Aang said with a smile.

"We are waiting until he time is right to date, right?" she said twiddling her thumbs, "And we aren't suppose to date others because, you know, we love each other and-"

"Stop Katara. If you want to date someone else that's fine. If you don't want to date that's fine too. I love you. The only problem is that now is not the right time, I'm busy and we're both young a-" Katara cut him off with a kiss.

"You talk just a tad too much. We will just wait." She said smiling.

"Great!" Aang said with a jump, "Ahem… Uh… I mean, okay. But why did you ask me?" he tried to compose himself, the last thing he wanted to do was appear like a child in front of her.

"Well, Haru sent me a letter that said he wanted to, uh, go out but it felt wrong so I wanted to talk to you. I'm glad you feel the same way." And with that Katara climbed onto Appa, Aang followed. A little jealousy was running through him. But he did his best to hide his emotion. He didn't want to make Katara feel bad.

"Shine brightly Yue," Aang whispered to himself, "I need the guide."

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"We can camp here tonight." Aang said when Appa landed. He had found a clearing in a forest in The Southern Earth Kingdom. There was a river to the east and a farm a couple miles to the west in case they realized they had forgotten something. The ground was soft beneath their feet and the trees curved around them almost making a natural tent but with a hole big enough for the flying bison to fit through.

"Ahh, ground, sweet ground!" Toph said when she landed on the earth after jumping off Appa.

"You say that every time Toph." Sokka pointed out. Trying to one up her for all the times she messed with him.

"Whatever Sokka. I don't lie." She countered while making an angel in the dirt.

"What? What's that suppose to mean?" Sokka stuttered. A smirk stretched across Toph's face, she had he upper hand.

"I may just know secrets that all you are keeping from each other." Toph said slyly. In reality she only knew one or two secrets but it was fun to mess with them and she wanted to freak Sokka out, which worked. Sokka was pacing ringing his hands; Suki stopped him and made him sit down with her.

"What secrets could you know?" Mai finally spoke. But not with her usual bitterness, with a real curiosity. She was genuinely curious about what the blind earthbender knew.

"I know plenty. I'm going to bed." Toph turned her back and formed and earth tent, she didn't stir till morning.

"Let's follow Toph's lead and get some rest." Katara suggested. She grabbed her sleeping bag, pulled it away from he fire Zuko had made, crawled inside, and went to sleep. Sokka and Suki followed her lead as did Zuko and Mai. The only person who stayed up was Aang. He was finding sleep eluded him. He knew why, of course, jealousy. Jealousy of Haru. Aang hadn't shown it back when Katara had mentioned it but he didn't like the idea of Katara and Haru as a couple. The very idea made him wish he had hair just so he could pull it out in frustration. He loved Katara; didn't she know that he thought of her with another guy would kill him? That's why he had been so jealous of Jet. Even though he had never shown it. 'Maybe,' he thought, "If I make her a bracelet she would promise herself to me. Obviously I can't make her a betrothal necklace, which I will do, but until I'm 16 maybe a bracelet will ease my worries.' With that happy fought floating around in his mind Aang found himself drifting to a peaceful and well deserved nights rest.

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"Come on twinkle toes! Time to get up!" Toph yelled at her earthbending student. Aang moaned and rolled back over into his sleeping bag. Trying to ignore the nuisance.

"He's not getting up." Suki stated, like she had said it for the millionth time.

"We've tried everything," Mai said with her usual bitterness. No one quite knew why she was helping get him up, they didn't think she cared. However, she did, but only because she wanted to get going.

"I know what we can do," Toph exclaimed earthbending something into her hand, "acupuncture!"

"What? AHHH!" Aang jumped a few feet into the air and ran as fast as he could towards the river. **AN: if you even care; Aang does the same thing as he did the first time Toph suggested acupuncture. He screams and his arms flail around. Just thought this would help with a mental picture.**

"Just like last time twinkle toes." Toph said with a grin. Before Aang could stop himself he collided with another body and sent them both flying into the cold morning water. As Aang emerged he spit out some water and swam over to the brown hair turned away from him.

"I'm so sorry Ka-" Just then Katara turned around. A look of pure loathing encompassed her face. No words were needed Aang knew he was in trouble. He felt he huge tidal wave forming behind him. He bowed his head waiting for the coming wave to wash him down the river. The few seconds that went by felt like hours. Aang just wanted to get it over with. Then…

"A little splash?" Aang said in confusion. Katara then burst into laughter. She was laughing so hard she was actually snorting then fell into the water. Aang joined the laughter, realizing he wasn't being punished.

"Oh man, oh man!" Katara laughed, grabbing her stomach, "Oh that was so funny! You should have seen your face!"

"Umm… Katara… Katara it's really not that funny, Katara." He put a hand on her shoulder only to cause her to fall into the water again. It took several minutes to calm the waterbender down.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Its just you were so scared and because I caused it, it was hilarious." She had a huge smile on her face one filled with happiness and triumph.

Aang muttered some words under his breath. "Whatever, Let's just get going." Turning around and swimming towards shore, Aang heard another round of giggles coming from behind him.

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"Here we are! The Southern Water Tri-" The newly rebuilt city was in ruins, some bodies were scattered and a group was cluttered in a corner surrounding a campfire. The rest of the city was covered in red.

"What happened?" Katara whispered in awe. She scanned for the people closest to her, relieved to find they were okay. But this didn't stop the sadness that filled her heart for her people.

"Look there's dad," Sokka pointed out, relief filled his voice, "Maybe he can tell us." As Aang landed Appa Hakoda ran to the Bison. Worry screamed from his face. He skipped all formalities and no one blamed him.

"Avatar Aang, please, help us."

**AN: Wow! Okay long chapter (in my opinion). Although most of it is filler (except for a couple parts which are pertinent to the rest of the story) and getting the characters to where they need to be, this chapter took I don't know how long to get it to where I was satisfied. A ton of re-reading, editing, and description went into this. So read and enjoy! Feel free to criticize in you reviews, I want it, it makes me a better writer.**

**P.S.- Oh come on! You really thought I wouldn't do ANY Kataang? I mean I'm all like "KATAANG FOREVER" there's no way I wouldn't do that. I'm just not going to do the whole, "Sweetie, Honey, My life is nothing without you, you're my soul mate" thing because I mean COME ON, can you say weak and vulnerable? Well… at least not yet *winky face and crooked smile to make you realize I WILL DO IT***


	2. Chapter 2

**I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender, but man do I wish I DID : )**

Chapter 2: Enemies, New Arrivals, and A Confession (In that order!=])

"Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe," Aang greeted with a bow after jumping down from his bison, "Who did this?" Aang looked around with anger in his eyes the terror and sadness that had overcome this village was overtaking him. He saw bodies being buried, the children looking for he daddy that wasn't going to show up. The mother franticly looking for he child that she knows deep down she is never going to see again. "Who is the monster that hurt your people?" Everyone followed Aang's lead getting off Appa, and hung onto Hakoda's next words.

"Princess Azula."

"What?" This time Zuko had spoken he looked most surprised out of anyone. Probably because he didn't want his hunch to be true. Rumors had been floating around that Azula had escaped but he quickly dismissed them. To afraid to think of the consequences that would unleash. "She can't have. That's impossible." He spoke these words more to himself then to others.

"She came here asking for you Katara." Hakoda said turning to his daughter.

"Me? Why?" Katara was taken aback. What had she done?

"She said she needed to face the water tribe girl who got extremely lucky during and Agni Kai and had taken her down. She didn't believe us when we said you weren't here and this is what that led to." He motioned to the melted and broken city with fear and failure in his eyes, "A little after some woman said to forgive her and that she was trying to fix everything. Said she had lost her way and her internal battle was exploding."

"Who was this woman? Where did she go? What did she look like? Is she here?" Zuko bombarded the warrior with questions, he obviously had a hunch on who this woman was.

"Patience young Fire Lord," Kanna said, "She needed rest. She's right through here." The grandmother motioned to one of he only buildings still standing. Out emerged a beautiful woman. She was tall, lean, and hand long black hair, which reminded he Gaang of Azulas. Aang noticed she looked a lot like Zuko. However, hints of aging were forming, some wrinkles and gray hairs, but one could tell she was a long ways away from elderly.

"Children this is Ursa. Former Fire Lady." Kanna said. Everyone looked shocked, except Zuko who sprinted the few feet it took to reach the woman and collided with her. This put the Gaang in another round of gasps.

"Mom," Zuko said with tears in his eyes.

"Zuko," said the woman. With open arms she embraced the sobbing teenager, "My son." she said burying her face in his hair.

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"Mom?"

"Yes Zuko?" Ursa said without looking up from her letter.

"Am I not the Fire Lord since, you know, your back?" he sat there twiddling his thumbs ignoring his girlfriend's attempts to hold his hand.

"That depends dear." She said still not looking away from the letter.

"Depends on what?" Zuko raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Do you want to be the Fire Lord?" she finally raised her head to look at her son in the eyes, "Are you ready for that responsibility?"

"I, well, that is, I-I think so." He stammered.

"No Zuko," Ursa's voice was stern, "You are avoiding the answer, yes or no?"

"No, I don't think I am. It's too much stress!" Zuko had jumped up and there was fire coming from his hands, "So much work, I'm not ready for this. Everyone is asking too much of me. I can't do it all! It needs to end." Zuko dropped to he floor tears flowing. Ursa walked over and wrapped her arms around her son. She was comforting him, whispering words of encouragement, making sure he knew he was not going through this alone and that she and his uncle, of course, would help him. Mai stood in the corner, a tear was running down her cheek. She couldn't stand to see her boyfriend in so much pain and yet she was lost. She didn't know what to do, she had never been in this situation before, and it was confusing and scary.

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Katara was weeping silently; she had her arms around her legs and her head on her knees. Her home had been destroyed and worst of all her people, her family, had been injured and some killed. She knew she could have prevented it if she had been there sooner. Azula had been looking for her, she could have stopped everything. This was all her fault.

"Katara, what's wrong?" came Toph's voice. She stumbled to the place where she heard the waterbender. Toph knew Katara crying happened very rarely. Her friend was very tough; it was hard to get her to break down.

Katara wiped her eyes, "I'm fine Toph come on in." Katara had been sitting in an igloo she had formed. However it was small, too small for a fire or more then a couple people.

As Toph stepped in she shivered, "Wow, it is cold! You doing okay?" she sat next to Katara. She could hardly tell where the girl was sitting; Katara had to turn Toph so she was facing her.

"I'm fine." Katara replied sniffing. She was trying to hide her sadness from her friend.

"Don't lie Katara, you know I can tell, sort of." Toph smiled, she could tell Katara was lying, but faintly.

"Fine," Katara said in defeat, "If you must know, it's the guilt. The guilt is killing me!" she threw her arms then went back to hugging her legs close to her chest.

"What do you mean 'guilt'?" Toph had an idea, but she wanted to hear it from Katara herself.

"This, the city being destroyed," Toph's eyes widened at the answer. That's not what she had been thinking at all. "Why do you look surprised?" Katara had noticed Toph's shocked expression. 'What else could have been bothering me?' she thought.

"Two reasons," the earthbender started to explain, "But let's focus on the first. It's not your fault Katara. And how dare you say it is! You didn't know this was going to happen. You couldn't have prevented any of it." She was shaking her finger in the girls face. It reminded Katara of how her Gran-Gran would scold her for slacking or being mean to her brother.

"You don't know that. If I had just gotten here earlier I could have stopped her!" she yelled looking the opposite way of Toph. A whole new wave of tears threatened to cascade down her cheeks.

"Stop Katara," Toph said fiercely standing up, "There was no way you could have known _or _gotten here earlier. Things happen, and they can't be stopped." She now had her hands on her hips giving, what she hoped, was a convincing expression.

"Your right Toph," Katara said, standing as well, "I need to get myself back together. But what was the second reason?"

"Oh, umm… Well see I kind of overheard you talking to Suki and Aang about the Haru thing. I figured you were feeling guilty again." Now Toph was sitting looking a little guilty about not admitting it earlier and she was pleased when Katara did not get upset.

Katara sighed and laughed. Of course that was bothering her as well but she wasn't about to admit that to her. She rose and left the tent with Toph following closely behind. Toph couldn't see very well with the ice so she followed her friends around. There was some earth under the city, but not enough that the blind earthbender was comfortable walking by herself. They walked a ways before Katara had gotten to the ten she wanted to. The tent belonged to her best friend before she had discovered Aang, Hui-Ying.

"Hui-Ying? It's me, Katara. Are you in here?" Katara said opening the cloth that was intended for a door. Toph kept closely behind her.

"Katara?" Katara gave Hui-Ying a huge smile. The two girls embraced. Some tears were shed, not sad tears but tears of joy. They had been like sisters for so long it was hard not to cry when the waterbender saw the short dark-haired girl in front of her. Toph sat in the corner groaning at the sound of weeping 'Crying is for the weak.' She thought blowing her bangs out of her face.

"Oh Katara, I've missed you so much. You and Sokka. It was so hard to get along without you guys. Oh I've missed you!" Hui squealed. Giving her friend another huge hug.

"I've missed you too! How have you been?" Katara giggled. She was ecstatic to see Hui again.

"No way! You first, tell me everything." She made Katara sit right down where she was. Kai was determined to hear every little detail about their adventures.

"Alright, get the fire going. Toph you can go if you want," Toph shook her head and sat down. She wanted to her this, "Okay so it all started when we left after Aang was captured by Zuko…" Katara then proceeded to tell a shortened version of the many adventures that the Gaang had. When Toph came into the story she stared telling the tale as well. Adding some things Katara might have forgotten and vice versa. Hui just sat with her head resting on her fists completely entranced by every word.

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Aang was walking through the wreckage mulling over everything that had happened. Trying to figure out what he was going to do next. He was just about to take his glider and leave the city for a few hours when Suki found him.

"Are you okay?" Suki asked putting her hand on his shoulder. He sighed.

"What about?" Aang responded, making it clear to the warrior that here was a lot on the Avatars' mind.

Suki pondered this question, "well I'd say about everything but let's start with what happened here. What Azula did." There was a long stretch of silence while Aang thought about the question and his answer.

"This makes me feel like a failure. That I let people down, I still can't end this. I don't want people mad and scared, it's a dangerous combination. With Azula who knows what could happen! We could plunge into another war and I won't be able to stop her and everyone I know will burn! And everyone I know will die! And-" Aang was beginning to hyperventilate at his thoughts. He feared for the safety of the world, but he didn't know what he was going to do about it. His eyebrows creased in frustration.

"Aang!" Suki cut him off, "None of that is going to happen. Ozai's threat has been eliminated and the world is at peace. Azula can't stop this era no one can, it's inevitable. The world needs. To heal, however long that might be. It could be 20 years, it could be 200 years. Just take a deep breath and relax. Azula is weak and frankly crazy, we could take her down easy."

Aang chuckled. He was lucky to have a friend like Suki. She always cheered him up. "Thanks Suki, and your right, now is a time to heal. Well, let's see what we can do to help." Suki nodded her head and gestured for the airbender to lead the way.

As they were cleaning a boy about Aang's age, with light brown hair and blue eyes ran up to them.

"Please!" he grabbed Aang's sleeve, "Please save my sister! Azula shot her with some lightening! Please! She's dieing!" the boy then burst into hysteric tears.

"KATARA," Aang bellowed, he knew he couldn't heal the poor girl (he had very few lessons), but the master waterbender could, "Katara! Where are you! Katara!"

"Aang?" Came her voice, "Aang? Where are you? What's wrong?" Katara came running, she as panting, with worry spreading over her face.

"Aang what's wrong?" she said sternly although still trying to catch her breath.

"We need to be quick, according to him, his sister was shot with lightening and he needs us- well, you need to save her." He answered quickly, Katara's body then went into healer mode.

"Where is she?" she said to the boy harshly grabbing him by the arms. However, this didn't faze the boy, he was too concerned for his sister.

"By the penguins, I can lead you if-"

"No," Katara stopped him, "I know where they are this time of year. Come on there isn't much time." The four then took off, Katara In the lead and Suki taking up the rear. No one spoke when they reached the girl. Katara bent over the small figure, she seemed about Katara's age but drastically underfed. Katara started to rub the wound with her spirit water. She had gotten more from the spirit oasis in the North Pole after the war in case she ever needed it again. Deep down she had hoped she would never need it again. The girl moaned and tried to speak but Katara hushed her telling the girl to save her strength. After a few minutes Katara had done all she could and she stood up, "She should be okay, she just needs to rest."

"Thank you," the boy hugged her.

"My pleasure," she hugged him back with a smile, "Just one question, how long ago did she get hit?"

"Not to long ago before if found you, a few minutes maybe?" Katara nodded, she knew that Azula had a pretty good head start. Not even Aang could track her out here; even though Azula wasn't mentally stable she wasn't stupid. The five walked back in silence.

"When they reached the village Aang pulled Katara aside, "Katara can we talk?"

"Sure Aang, of course." She said with her smile she loved so much.

"So I was thinking," Aang said rubbing the back of his neck, "That maybe we could… umm…"

"Date?" Katara said, finishing his thought. Again she was smiling; she had the same idea for a while.

"Yeah, I mean, I've thought about it for a while and I decided that I don't care if I'm busy because ill make time." Katara just nodded her head and reached for his hand.

"Well okay then!" Aang said cheerfully, Katara giggled.

"Oh Aang," she sighed, shaking her head, "Now I want to go talk to that boy, I've never seen him before. He looked about Toph's age."

"Okay, let's go." He said. Aang walked with a skip in his step with Katara leading the way.

**AN: Okay so I did it. They're together but I'm not going to focus on Kataang fluff or their relationship right now – that comes later – the most will be a peck on the cheek, arms around the waist, and holding hands. So what do you think of Ursa's placement? I just _had_ to write about her. I've been dying to know what happened to her. The new boy? His poor sister? Will Azula never just give up? No wait, we can all answer that last question! **

**For those of you interested; Hui-Ying's name is pronounced 'hway ying'. Hui is her nickname Katara gave her.**

**I'll probably update every 2-3 days (4 for longer chapters or when I get SWAMPED) if I update sooner, well I had too much time on my hands!**

**Another long chapter (in my opinion), if you guys don't like it I will be more then happy to shorten them! Just say the word! Read and enjoy! : )**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry it took me three days I was really hoping for two, but I got swamped – UGH school – but here you go and I hope you like it! P.S. - I feel like addressing this, I haven't given description to what the characters have been wearing because its basically what they wore on last episode – the end of Sozin's Comet – I forgot to mention it and I do apologize.**

**I don't own A: TLA all credit goes to the AMAZING AND BRILLIANT creators; Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino.**

Chapter 3: A Feast, A Plan, and News

Three people were in one of the huts that had been recently re-built. It was a snowy day and most were staying inside.

"Koda." Koda was a small boy, they assumed Toph's age. He, like his sister, seemed drastically underfed. He had his eyes shut tight but Katara was slowly making him feel more comfortable with her attitude. She wasn't sitting very close to him; she feared he suffered from claustrophobia and didn't want him frightened. She also had Aang stand against a back wall so the boy didn't feel surrounded. Aang didn't like being separated but listened and respected the girls wishes.

"Well it's very nice to meet you Koda, uh, formally," Katara said, "And what's your sisters' name?" Katara, Koda, and Aang were sitting on some wooden stools; the hut had the traditional wolf skins and a few beds. But other then that he hut was fairly bare. Most was lost in Azula's rage.

"Kiew, her name is Kiew." He said with his head down. He hadn't made eye contact with Katara since they began talking. She rested her hand on his shoulder, to comfort him. He raised his head still not making eye contact.

"That is a beautiful name and where are you guys from?" she asked sweetly. She was trying, again, not to scare the boy.

"Umm…" he mumbled, wringing his hands nervously. He now had turned his head the other way and lowered it.

"Oh! You don't have to answer that if it's an uncomfortable question." Koda nodded his head as if to thank her.

"When did you arrive? If you don't mind my asking." She said politely.

"A few weeks ago, our aunt took us in." Katara nodded at his answer. Aang rested his hand on Katara's shoulder.

"Well thank you," Aang said, "We should head out now." Katara nodded and grabbed Aang's hand. Noticing Katara didn't have a coat Aang offered her his, when she rejected he put it on her anyway and wouldn't let her take it off. She shook her head but accepted defeat.

"See you later Koda." She said waving as she and Aang walked out the door. Koda had finally raised his head to wave goodbye, but he had a frown on his face and water in his eyes.

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The next day Sokka was hard at work fixing houses and cleaning up rubble. He had been working or hours and he hummed one of his favorite songs to pass the time. He was just done with his fourth house when Suki came by.

"Need help?" she offered. He nodded his head and motioned towards the next house not missing a note of the song he was still humming. Suki took this as he wasn't up for talking so they worked in silence. They were on the seventh house when Hakoda yelled that it was time for dinner. Again Sokka said nothing and walked towards his father's voice. Suki found all this very strange; because, if she knew anything about her boyfriend, is that he never shuts up.

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Yue lit up the Southern Water Tribe brilliantly, it was snowing softly and each snowflake glistened beautifully; Creating a twinkling effect in the sky. The city was sitting in a circle around a large table, chatting, catching up, laughing at Hakoda's poor attempted at a joke…

"Attention," came Hakoda's voice, and no one ignored it, it was authority and commanded respect, "First off, welcome to my son, daughter, Avatar Aang, and their friends, and thank you for helping us today," there was a round of applause and all heads turned to the Gang huge smiles stretched across their faces, Hakoda continued to speak when the clapping diminished, "Second, I feel I must address our losses. The men, women, and children lost to Azula's attack will never be forgotten," there was a moment of silence to honor the dead, heads hung low and quiet weeping began, "Thank you. Now for my last statement, please enjoy!" everyone clapped and the children hollered, then they all dug in. There were stewed sea prunes, penguin and blubbered-seal meat, and fish. Everyone was having a great time except for;

"Aang are you okay?" Katara asked concerned, noticing he had a nauseated look on his face. Katara and Aang were sitting next to each other – of course – with the Gaang on each side of them.

"Vegetarian, and I _hate_ sea prunes." He said trying to block the smell from reaching his nose. He had already smelled and tasted them back when he had first met Bato and he didn't wish to relive the memory.

"Oh yeah, I might have some fruit in he house. Ill be right back." She went to stand up. She felt bad for Aang being ht only one who couldn't eat what they had to offer. (However at the other side of the table Hakoda was gulping his down.)

"No Katara," Aang said, stopping hr from standing, "Eat, please, I'm fine, I don't want you to get up for me. Really I'm okay." He added at the end seeing the look on her face, but it slowly disappeared.

"Well okay, if you're okay." Aang nodded and listened to Katara's and Hui's heated discussion on how swamp people lived and how Hui didn't believe they liked it there better – along with the whole, 'bugs are people food' thing.

On Katara's right the Gaang ended with Sokka, who was sitting with his head resting on his fists, still not talking to anyone. Suki had not been able to get him to speak and gave up. She was now in a discussion with one of the best non-bender warriors over training techniques. Sokka was left to muddle over his thoughts. He was distraught, unknown to Suki, one of the little boys Sokka had trained before they had freed Aang from the ice burg had been shot with lightning by Azula, while the healers did everything they could; the child didn't survive. The news had severely affected Sokka, although he didn't want to admit to anyone that the death had taken such a great toll on him. He would have been more then happy to talk to Suki but he was afraid that if he opened his mouth he would break down. So he kept to himself.

"Sokka, can you fill this bowl with sea prunes please?" Suki asked. He nodded and filled it until she said stop. She gave him a dazzling smile, hoping to get a word or smile back. But it was another failed attempt. Suki shook her head and went back to her conversation. Sokka just stared at his plate.

A couple of people down on the other side of Katara were Zuko, Mai, and Ursa. All three sat in silence as well, not quite sure what would be an appropriate conversation. Ursa was swarmed with guilt because of Zuko's distress, Mai was sad (not the usual bitterness, sadness) also because of Zuko's state. And Zuko felt responsible for putting all of them through it.

As time went on more and more people left the table. It was late and most were ready for bed. However the Gaang stayed at the table. Toph decided to speak just to break the silence, "Ugh- I know it's great that the war is over and the Ozai is in jail, but I'm just so _bored_."

"I know what you mean." Suki nodded. Now that there was no threat her training was slow and life had become dull.

"I hate to say this but I'm looking foreword to Azula, we've never _not_ had something to do." Sokka added. Toph and Suki nodded.

"Oh grow up!" Katara said fiercely, glaring at everyone, "The Avatar saved us and the world is at peace, so you shouldn't be complaining." Katara slumped in her seat enraged about how they could all be looking for trouble at a time like this.

"Katara relax, in all honesty I agree, life is peaceful but dull, it makes me want to go looking for Azula right now." Aang stated expressing his opinion wasn't easy to do to her, but her felt that she wasn't being fair. Katara threw her hands up; she couldn't believe her boyfriend would say such a thing, especially because he is he Avatar, wouldn't her want peace?

"Why would you go looking for a fight?" she said still glaring. It was a while before someone came up with an answer that wouldn't really offend her.

"Well I think that we are just so use to being needed that if feels weird not to have to do something. I don't want to have a fight, but if Azula is out I'd rather go and find her now before she gets too strong." Katara stared at Aang when he was done speaking. She was debating on if this was a good answer. She nodded to show she understood.

"So what's the plan?" Toph asked excitedly. She had her hands clenching the table, her knuckles going white with excitement.

"Well that depends, do we have any idea where Azula is?" everyone shook their heads at Sokka's question. There was silence for a while. The group was trying to figure out how they would approach the situation. They knew just letting Azula run free wasn't an option but no one knew where to start. She was slipping, but, according to Zuko, that wouldn't make her any less dangerous. Ursa suggested that they send out search parties around the South Pole, "But we have no idea where she could be." Sokka argued.

"The south pole isn't that big, there are a limited number of resources," Ursa argued back, "If Azula had lost her means of getting here she would need to construct something and make it through the cold. She's vulnerable now. She never did like the snow."

"But that's going off the slim chance she lost her transportation and hasn't already stolen a boat from us in the confusion or crafted her own. It's not that reliable of an idea." Aang pointed out.

"But it's the only lead we got!" Toph said, slamming her fists on the table, "And what if Azula is out there and we choose not to go after hr? She could get away! Then who knows what will happen."

Ursa shook her head, "She's alone, and I've been tracking her. She's probably planning on building an army, but as far as I know, she has no allies." Another long pause washed over the group, each was trying to figure out a part of the plan. Or where to even begin.

Toph had her eyes shut tight and stayed that way while she spoke, "What if we send out bait?"

Sokka raised an eyebrow curiously, "Bait?"

"Yeah," She said, and then pointed to the girl across from her, "Katara."

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The sun was just rising in the fire nation and the sky was a rich cherry red. This time of day the palace was a sight to behold. The ponds shimmered with red and the already red roofs became richer. The gardens opened where they had been planted with different fire colored flowers, from the sky beautiful designs could be seen. However a dark feeling had started sneaking up on the nation; news of Azula's attack had spread like wild fire. The Royal Palace was a buzz with rumors and theories.

An old, short man was roaming the palace grounds, trying to decide what to do about the situation. "General Iroh, the Order wants to meet with you."

"All of them?" Iroh asked the servant in disbelief. The servant nodded, Iroh sighed, "Very well." He began walking to the war room muddling to himself wondering what they could want. And why it was so important that it couldn't wait until later in the day.

When the general had reached the war room he heard faint whispering, with an eyebrow raised he stuck his foot through the door.

"Iroh, High Ranking Master of the Order of the White Lotus, glad you could join us." The man stood up and bowed. He was tall with a dark brown beard and hair that was pulled back into a bun. A Fire Nation insignia was attached to the band holding his hair.

"Master Piando," The firebender bowed, "Thank you. Now what's going on?" He sat down; the group was sitting in a circle. All old masters were focused on Piando.

"Your niece, Azula, she has escaped and on the run. We have heard rumors of a possible army but the most she has done is reek havoc throughout the Southern Water Tribe. According to our spies she should be still there but planning her escape." Piando stayed composed, not raising his voice, calm. Iroh on the other hand had his eyes on the ground his eyebrows angled in thought. He, like Zuko, had heard of Azula's possible escape. But he wasn't sure if it was appropriate to alarm the other members, seeing as how she wasn't stable and wasn't considered a real threat to the other members.

"What do you suggest we do?" Iroh asked, to no one in particular.

"We let the Avatar get her," this time Jeong-Jeong spoke up, "If she has no army or allies she stands no chance against that group, we should only interfere if Avatar Aang requests are help. It is the Avatar's job to keep balance in the world, not ours." Everyone nodded at these words. Iroh as well, he knew that like him killing his brother for power, killing his niece would cause trouble as well. The Avatar needed to handle this.

"Well then that is what we will do, we wait."

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The storm was brutal, the ice was like glass and she couldn't keep her fire going. But she only needed to last the night, she could make it. Her lips were blue and chapped though she managed to smile because she knew she would get her chance. "I'm going to kill you Katara, of the Water Tribe. You can't win twice."

Azula let fire out of her mouth, she could build a shelter in the morning; she didn't need to look for the waterbender. With the pain she hopefully caused her, Katara would come right to her.

**AN: YenShenMoon: Thanks for the review, I appreciate it. I think I just rush so I don't write enough but I'll definitely try and put in more description. (BTW, did you mean 'don't take this the wrong way'? I would assume so, but either way, criticism – to a point – is quite helpful.)**

**So there you go the third chapter! I promise it will get more exciting, but you have to build up to the climactic scene right? Another tip: Kiew is pronounced; K-AY-EW (at least I'm pretty sure). Hopefully you can figure out Koda! Thanks for reading and please continue and enjoy! (Reviews appreciated)**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So I'm apologizing again! I'm sorry I didn't get this updated sooner. Like I said; family problems and WRITERS BLOCK stopped me from writing. I'll get five updated as soon as possible! **

**StoriesthatDefineUs: Thank you for the review, I appreciate it! Anyway, actually that is how I imagined their relationship, Aang being too overprotective and Katara standing up for her self. And that's exactly how I was going to make them out to be in future chapters (and this one :]). So you're not telling me how to right my story, and thanks for the input!**

**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

Chapter 4: Bait, Friends, and An Attempt

The sun was warm buy it didn't keep the children from bundling up in their water tribe furs before going out. The blizzard had finally stopped and the city was getting a chance to stretch its legs. Children made snow angels and started a snowball fight. Appa got the chance to take people on rides, stretching _his_ legs and enjoy the air. Momo got his chance to fish with Sokka – the lemur did significantly better then the warrior – and Katara and Aang got a chance to practice water/snow bending. Even Suki and Hui were able to practice and enhance their skills – Hui is a skilled warrior. The only person who wasn't enjoying it was Toph. She was sitting in a tent arms protectively wrapped around her legs, knees toughing her chin. She still hadn't solved the not seeing problem and she needed to wear shoes so she wouldn't get frostbite. She was completely blind. And it sucked. The only one keeping her company was Zuko, who surprisingly wasn't in a bad mood, he too wanted to enjoy the sun, but he didn't want to leave the helpless earthbender all alone.

"I know what your thinking and I'm not helpless." Zuko raised his eyebrow at this, then remembering she couldn't see him he just asked her how she knew. "Because that's what everyone thinks of me. They think that because I'm blind I can't do anything myself. Well I can! I just choose not to do everything. My time could probably be better spent…" Zuko rolled his eyes and let her drone on. She had given the Gaang this speech a hundred times and he suspected it would be given a thousand more. He would here the same words and he would answer with the same sentence, 'We help you because your family, not because your blind, you Toph, are in no way helpless.' But even then the girl still doesn't believe them and gives them the same speech each time she gets upset, "…So just stop worrying okay?"

"Huh? What? Oh, we help you because your family-"

"Not because I'm blind. Yeah, I know, you say that every time! I get it, but you don't get me! You don't have to go through this! Stop talking to me like I'm a child!" Toph began to cry, Zuko was wide eyed, he wasn't quite sure what had happened and wasn't sure what to do. But before he could reach his hand out to comfort the girl a new set of arms were closed tightly around her. Rocking back and forth, Ursa was trying to clam her down. She whispered into the child's ear, soothing her. Toph's body went from shakes to just heavy breathing motions after several minutes. She never let go of the child.

"Alright sweetie, you're going to be okay." Ursa said after a while of Toph's silent weeping. Toph's body went rigid and Ursa let go due to the tension.

"Of course I'm alright; I'm going to find Aang and Katara. Don't tell anyone I cried," she snapped, then added, "Please." Ursa smiled and nodded. It was obvious how much she missed her own mother and Ursa decided to mention to Aang to take Toph home.

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Katara and Aang were walking on the outskirts of the city. They were heading for where Aang was keeping Appa - he had built a giant stable out of ice and dirt. They had heir fingers intertwined and were walking in silence. That is until Aang's worry was too much and he gave in. "Katara you're not going to be bait, I won't let you." Aang's eyes were full of worry and he grasped his girlfriends hand tighter. However, she stopped dead, catching the Avatar off guard and he almost fell over. She was glaring at him; he felt like cringing but stood his ground, reinforcing his previous words.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" she spat, letting go of his hand and crossing her arms, giving him a stance she would normally give Sokka when she was annoyed with him.

"I just care about you. This is a really dangerous job. I don't want you hurt. So please, just listen to me." He went to grab her hand but she hid it behind her back. She began walking at a quicker pace. Aang ran to keep up with her; she stopped dead when he did.

"Aang, I care about you too. But I'm not a child; I can take care of myself. I'm sorry I was mean, that's not fair to you. But I am doing this; I will do whatever it takes to bring down Azula." Aang nodded his dead, not in agreement, but in defeat. She grabbed his hand and they finished their walk in silence. Relieved when they finally reached where the flying bison was sleeping.

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Suki had finally gotten Sokka to talk – just not about why he was upset – and they were sitting in a snow bank watching the children hit each other with snowballs and challenge one another to a 'Build the Best Snowman Contest'. Suki had been thinking of her life in the future with children. She so hoped he would propose, she, of course, would accept. But in his state she didn't expect anything anytime soon. She rested her head on his shoulder and he but his head on hers. She sighed, tilted her head and softly kissed his lips. She pulled away and smiled. He had a huge grin on his face.

"What was that for?" he pulled her closer.

"I don't know I- Oh my- Girls! Girls over here!" Suki was waving her arms around trying to get a group of girl's attention. The other Kyoshi warriors had just arrived on a small boat. Suki ran into one of them and the girl squealed.

"Suki!" she said hugging her, "It's so good to see you! Sokka!" she yelled grabbing the boy, "It's good to see you!"

"Uh, hi Ty Lee," he tried to catch his breath. She had him in such a tight embrace he couldn't breathe, "It's good to see you too."

"So Suki," Ty Lee said, turning her attention towards her friend, her smile faded, "We have a problem."

Suki looked at her curiously, "What?"

"It's, uh, Azula. She has followers."

"What?" Suki and Sokka eyes widened.

"They were at the island. We fended them off, but not before we caught one of them and made them talk. He told us about a revolution, and that Azula was a goddess who would lead them to power. And that we couldn't stop them."

"What happened to him?"

"He ran away. We decided not to follow him." Suki nodded at her answer. It was quiet for a while, Sokka and Suki were thinking about what they heard. Suki decided they would let everyone know later but they shouldn't worry about it now, seeing as how there was nothing they could do. So, the girls all reminisced and talked about how much they had missed each other. Sokka, not really caring about what they were saying, decided to make his escape. He made his way to his hut; hands in his pockets, deep in thought.

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Katara was in her fighting stance, her eyebrows were crossed and she was breathing heavily. She created many small hard spheres of ice that she sent flying away from her at an astronomical speed. She quickly sent sheets of ice to follow. However a coil of water had come up behind her and pulled her arm yanking the wave she was making off course, getting rid of half her ice sheets. Master Pakku was smiling, he had the upper hand; he had caught the girl off guard. And she was going to pay. Katara glared at him, anticipating his next move she pushed herself up into the air with a snow column stopping his spears of ice from reaching her. Aang was watching the battle with his fists clenched and wide eyed. He knew that what they were doing was only practice but he couldn't help but think that something bad would happen. Like Sokka said while they were traveling, 'Something bad _always_ happens!'. While water whips flew and ice crashed into snow banks and skimmed some houses, Katara and Master Pakku never took their eyes off each other. Katara wanted to prove she was truly a master and Pakku didn't want to be beat by a little girl, let alone his granddaughter. The battle went on for a few hours before Katara was sent flying into a snow bank and accepted defeat – but she did say she would win next time. Master Pakku laughed at this helping the waterbender up. He then went to find Kanna. Katara made her way to Aang who was still clenching his fists, concern etched into his face.

"Oh Aang; stop worrying! It was just a practice match. I'm fine." She took his hand, which had just relaxed.

"Katara, I worry about you," he admitted, "Its not easy watching your girlfriend fight a master, especially when death is a possible outcome." Katara shook her head at this, he always blew things out of proportion. She knew Pakku would never actually hurt her.

"Katara!" Hakoda was walking towards the couple, his hand in the air, trying to get her attention, "that was-" Katara's eyes widened at what happened next. Aang's jaw dropped. She was pretty sure he had said her fathers name but she couldn't be sure. Her ears were ringing. Sokka and Suki came running and the rest of the Kyoshi warriors weren't far behind. Toph, Zuko, Mai, and Ursa were there in moments. Lying before them was Hakoda, lying in a puddle of blood. An arrow was in his upper chest; the Southern Water Tribe chief was unconscious, blood dripping out of her mouth.

**AN: So I know this is shorter then my other chapters but this one didn't come as easily, I'm not sure why but that's just the way it is I guess. I hope this is worth it! **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Here you go chapter 5! Sorry for not updating. Tests and end of school and such is kicking my butt! I don't know how often I'll be able to update but once summer comes the chapters will come often! YAY FREE TIME :) **

**Thank you for the review StoriesthatDefineUs it is greatly appreciated! **

**Chapter 5: Remedies, A Story, and A Present**

A snow storm had found its way to the South Pole and, like before, the village was trapped inside. Three women were standing over a body, water hovering and glowing. One of the healers was a young woman, in her mid-twenties. She had short brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. She was short but a strong built woman. A bead of sweat was dripping from her brow. She was concentrated on the man she was healing, hoping Hakoda was going to pull through. His wound had put a great toll on his body and the second woman was just as focused and distraught over it. She was an old woman in her late-sixties, but one of the most talented healers the water tribes had to offer. She was of average height and had long white hair she kept back in a strict bun. Years of focus had caused permanent frown lines but she was generally a happy woman. Hakoda's wounds were proving tricky for the smart waterbender but Pakku had thought to bring water from their spirit oasis when the first northerners came to help rebuild the sister tribe. Hopefully the spirit water would be enough to heal the mans wounds. The last healer in the room was Katara. Her tears had been non-stop since her father fell into the snow. Since then it had only been the healers, Sokka, and Aang in the hut. Sokka and Aang weren't in often, they knew the women wanted space while they worked and more could get done without someone breathing down their necks all the time. Everyone once in a while Katara stopped healing, let the water fall, and let Aang catch her. Each time she did this she would weep silently into his shoulder then fall asleep, that is, until she would jerk awake and begin healing again. She never slept for more then a half hour at a time. Aang was relieved when she finally slept for an hour. Sokka was with Suki most of the time. She almost never left his side in fear of him dong something stupid or dangerous. He was even more torn up then Katara. Katara was able to function and talk to others. Sokka just sat there and never spoke. Kanna said he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it was possible he would be like this for months or years, maybe longer. And that terrified Suki. Aang said he would come out of it because Hakoda was going to be fine. Toph thought Aang was just trying to make Suki feel better. From what she heard, Hakoda was making almost no progress. They were keeping him alive, but that was about it. The women have been at it for two weeks. But they weren't about to give up.

"Katara, please, sleep." Aang begged his girlfriend for what seemed like the thousandth time. She just shook her head, Aang groaned, "Katara you need sleep, Kala and Rama can handle it."

Katara flinched at his last words, "What did you just say?"

"Just that Kala and Rama could handle it." Aang repeated, holding up his arms defensively.

"Sorry I- I thought you said something else." She said, shaking her head.

"What did you- oh." Aang realized what she had meant; Kya. Her mom's name sounded similar to Kala's. Ever since her father was hit she had been thinking a lot of her mother. Almost everything reminded Katara of her. Katara sighed. Then an extraordinary think happened, Hakoda's arm moved. Then his leg, then his lips.

"Aang! Aang look! He's moving! He's moving!" Aang jumped up and ran over to Katara. Hakoda was moaning, is lips were chapped and he was trying to open his eyes. Katara, noticing his lips, gave him some water to drink. Hakoda couldn't open his eyes but one could tell he was trying. Katara rubbed his shoulder.

He said one word, "Kya." It was faint but it was obvious what he said. Hakoda then went limp.

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The Kyoshi warriors and Sokka were all huddled in a hut most were broken up into little conversations and Suki was still trying to get Sokka to talk. He just ignored her, no matter what it was. The only thing he would even slightly acknowledge was news on his father, or if she was crying. News of his father would make him go to the hut where they were healing him. If she was crying he would hold her. But he never said anything.

"Sokka please talk to me!" Suki begged. She had been talking to him all morning. He never answered. She groaned and focused on Ty Lee instead.

"Ty Lee, can you tell me exactly what happened when Azula landed on our island?" She nodded then began her story.

"It was early morning and I was just starting my morning patrol when I noticed some smoke off in the distance. I climbed a tree to get a better view. I recognized the ship, I knew what it meant. Azula was coming, I ran back to the village to warn them. We prepared for battle. When they landed on he beaches we were ready, but neither side made an offensive move. When Azula came out she had about ten men. But that was all she had, ten followers. She asked us to join her, on her mission to regain her control of her people. She said she had 'seen the error of her ways' and that this was for 'the good of humanity'. But I've known Azula for years; I know when she's lying. And she _was _lying. We attacked and they did little to defend Azula called for retreat and they just protected her and tried to get away. But not before we caught one of them, like I said before. I think her guards consisted of mostly firebenders but you could tell they were all from the Fire Nation. That part was easy to figure out." Everyone was silent. Ty Lee was looking at her feet and rubbing her arm.

"Did they give any indication to where they were headed?" Everyone looked shocked. Sokka had asked Ty Lee the question. She had to blink several times before answering.

"Uh, ahem, ah, yeah. Yes they did. They mentioned something about waterbenders. I assumed here, but I could have been wrong."

Suki shook her head thinking, "No you weren't. They were here. Azula, she attacked." Ty Lee looked at her feet. Everyone was silent again; no one dreamed Azula would get herself to the South Pole. Suki began to think that one of Azula's guards had been the one to shoot the arrow at Hakoda. Sokka seemed to have thought that too. He had a look of deepest loathing on his face.

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Katara was taking a break from healing her father. He was making very little progress since he had spoke and the situation was tearing Katara apart. She was holding a mug of hot sea prunes when Aang came in the hut and sat down next to her. He, however, didn't speak. His lip trembled every once in a while but he kept his focus on his feet. Katara reached for his hand and he held it gratefully. She felt a little happier with him. He gave off an aura that just put her in a more happy and hopeful mood. She was just finishing her sea prunes and getting ready to return to healing and give Rama a break when Aang stopped her. She turned to him, raising an eyebrow, expecting an answer.

"Umm… I need to talk to you." He trembled, afraid of rejection.

She giggled and sat back down, "What is it? You can tell me." Aang reached into his pocket and pulled a small bracelet, "Oh Aang, it's beautiful! Is- is it for me?" He nodded and handed her the bracelet. It had big blue beads with engravings on them. Two of the five blue beads had the Water Tribe and Air Nomad insignias on them. The others said 'forever and always'. The rest were little white crystals like beads. The bracelet just fit around her hand. "What is it for?"

"It's because you're my girlfriend and because of your father being… you know, hurt. I thought you would want something to cheer you up. And I was hoping it would be a symbol of our relationship and a keepsake until…"

"Until the necklace?" she smiled. He smiled and blushed, she kissed him on the cheek, "I love it."

She went back to her father and Aang walked out the door into the snow. He wanted to talk to Zuko since Sokka wasn't talking to anyone. He wanted advice, possibly from Ursa. Maybe they could tell him how to approach the situation.

**AN: I'm so sorry for how long this took to update. I promise the next chapter will be longer! Until then, read and review! :) **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Sorry for taking so long to update, as I said, I'm not sure when I will be able to update. It feels like I'm saying that A LOT lately. But here's chapter 6. Hope you like it. Please review when possible, makes me a better writer and you will be able to enjoy the story if I get some constructive criticism!**

**I don't own A: TLA**

Chapter 6: Tears, A Miracle, and A Secret (and Quite A Bit More)

The snow storm was still going Azula was now in a better makeshift hut, she had found time when the snow storm had cleared. She was still waiting. Lips still blue, she was just fending off frost bite with her fire. She hadn't eaten in days and was hoping the blizzard would pass so she could hunt. Her group had left her, but that was her fault. She had told them to go in the opposite direction she was headed. She wanted to throw the avatar off her trail. She still wanted the waterbender to find her but she wanted to diminish their numbers then the face the girl by herself.

The next day the storm stopped and Azula was grateful for the chance to hunt. She went out and caught a few small fish, not enough to keep her going if there was another snow storm. So she decided she needed to hunt bigger game. She caught a penguin and stored it in some ice. She got her fire going and slowly warmed her body, being careful to not change her body temperature to fast. She was fine for a few hours then; she exploded. Fire balls shot out of her hands. Tears drenched her face and she just screamed, she screamed at the top of her lungs until no sound would come out. Then she cried, she cried all through the night and into the next day. She pulled at her hair and managed to rip some off her head. She chewed her finger nails to the point where she was just chewing skin. She dug what was left of her nails into her legs and held her knees to her chest. Between sobs she begged the spirits for her mother. She wanted to be loved, she wanted to be held, she needed a mother and she wasn't aloud that. She rolled up in a ball and slept, only moving to eat and go to the bathroom. She wasn't prepared for what was about to happen.

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Rama was sleeping on the couch and Katara and Kala were chatting while they were healing Hakoda. Since the storm was over they sent a group out to get herbs for Hakoda. His condition was improving; and because he was improving Sokka was talking, and because Sokka was talking Suki and Katara were happier, and because Suki and Katara were happier Aang and the Kyoshi warriors were happier. The mood washed over the city and everyone was back to rebuilding and their daily chores with a smile.

The girls took the rags off Hakoda's wound that was meant to stop any bleeding their waterbending couldn't, "Katara, look!"

"What?" she asked turning her head from the spot she had a sphere of water hovering over. She saw what Kala had meant, "Oh my- AANG! Aang get in here!"

Aang came running. He was panting and had his hands on his knees, "What? What is it?" Katara pointed at her father. Aang's eyes widened. The bleeding, after being nonstop, had ceased. The wound had closed. Pink skin had just faintly covered the surface. Six hours earlier, when they had last checked the wound, it was still bleeding nearly just as bad as when it had started. Now it had just stopped, "Was it the spirit water?" Aang asked while inspecting the wound.

"That's what I had thought but then again that's the first thing we used, and it hadn't worked. We figured poison might have stopped it, but we weren't sure. And we've been using spirit water everyday. Along with regular water, of course." Aang nodded while listening. It was an interesting theory, poison. They could have dipped the tip of the arrow in poison and then shot the arrow. "Aang, will you go on a walk with me?" Aang looked up a little surprised but a smile formed on his face and he nodded. She smiled and grabbed his hand, leaving Rama and Kala to look after Hakoda.

Once they were out of anyone's ear shot, Aang turned his attention towards his girlfriend, "So what's going on?" Katara shrugged and didn't look at him, "Come on Katara, something has to be bothering you. If not your dad, then your brother?"

She shook her head, Sokka was doing fine, it was definitely something else, "Its being bait."

"I already told you, you don't have to."

"No; you told me I can't, but I'm not bothering with that argument now. Its, I want us to do it. Don't look at me like that! I've done some thinking and who else would have it out for me but Azula? It would have to be her, if I had been any farther to my right it would have hit me in the back, and killed me. The arrow I mean." Aang shook his head trying to absorb what Katara was saying. He wasn't having trouble processing her theory about it possibly being meant to hit her in the back; it was her wanting to be bait. "And I want to give her hell for what she did. I know it was her. Being bait is my reason to go out and find her. I've talked to Toph and-"

"No you haven't." Aang cut in, "She's been in her tent all week and you haven't left your fathers." Aang gave her a disapproving look; she should have known she couldn't lie to him.

She hung her head for a second then raised it again, "Alright fine, so I haven't talked to her, but she would agree with me. It was her idea, and wasn't it you who said that if Azula was out there you would want to take her down before she did something else?"

"Yes I was, but that was before you where being considered for bait. And what about you; weren't _you_ the one who said that we shouldn't be looking for a fight? What would compel you to go off and use yourself as bait?" Aang's eyes widened at his last question. He knew what had made her decide being bait was a good thing, "Oh um, Katara, I didn't mean that."

"I cannot believe you!" he was trembling under her rage. She thought it was painfully obvious why she wanted to be the bait; she wanted to hunt down Azula. Her father's condition would definitely sway her decision. But it doesn't sway towards Azula living much longer. Aang knew what he said was insensitive and he watched Katara as she turned on her heels and walked away from him.

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"I got it!"

"Got what?" Suki asked laughing at Sokka. He had been doing much better after hearing about his fathers wounds healing.

"Momo! Momo stole my blubbered-seal jerky!" he said whipping around to face her. She laughed and sighed. She had missed the eccentric boy that she loved. She missed the bad jokes, the poorly backed up accusations, and the sarcasm. She sighed again, she had really missed him. "Ah Sokka? Sokka come back! Oh whatever." She lay down in the snow as he ran away to find the flying lemur. "Hi Joy." One of the Kyoshi warriors had come over and sat next to Suki.

"Hi." She said, with her dazzling smile; but the smile hadn't hid her eyes. They were red and puffy; she was trying to hide something.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Suki said, sitting up. Joy shook her head and just tried to keep the smile on her face.

"Nothing Suki, I got to go." Before Suki could respond, Joy jumped to her feet and ran to her hut. Suki had an eyebrow raised. She made a mental note to ask Ty Lee if she had seen any change in Joy lately, she was always a happy person, it was strange. It was then that Sokka came running back. He had a smile on his face and was holding something in his hands. She laughed when he showed her that it was the jerky.

"So it wasn't Momo, I had left it in my room. But I was close!" She laughed again and shook her head. Yep, she had definitely missed him. He laughed and sat down. "Have you heard any news about my father?" he said more seriously then before, the smile and vanished. It had been bothering him for a while considering he hadn't checked in on Hakoda since yesterday. She shook her head and suggested they go see him. He grabbed her hand and they walked to the hut, each step a little more timid than the last.

"Katara? Rama, Kala?" Suki said peeking her head into the door, her arm outstretched for Sokka, who was a little reluctant to go in, "Is anyone here?" she called. She heard a slight moan, apparently Sokka heard it too because he stuck his head in the door at that moment.

"Katara… Dad?" he stammered walking towards the bed where the man was sleeping. His chest rose and dropped softly, he was okay, for now; Sokka sighed. He sat down on his chair that was situated next to Hakoda's head. Suki rested her hand on his shoulder as Sokka hovered his hand over his fathers shoulder. The wound was healing better than he could have hoped. The skin wasn't nearly as pink as it was before, but it was leaving a nasty scar. Sokka lightly ran his hands over the wound, Hakoda shivered. Sokka yanked his hand back, his eyes widened and he began to shake. Suki began soothing him telling his father was okay and that she would go get Katara and prove it. Suki left Sokka alone for a few short moments and when she returned with the waterbender she found her boyfriend sitting in the corner, arms wrapped around his legs. She grabbed his hand and pulled him up. Katara was able to explain that the spot was just a little sensitive, Sokka had done no damage and it was all ok. Sokka nodded at this and sat at his fathers head reluctant to touch him or leave. Suki made up two beds after making sure it was okay that they spend the night there. Katara explained that they would be in and out all night and that when they slept they were on the couch. Katara still didn't sleep much but was handling the situation better. Aang was still terrified for Katara and still wanted her to get more sleep.

Later that day Ty Lee made her way to the then. She sat down next to Suki for a while before anyone said anything. "Ty Lee, I have a question for you." Suki said a little hesitantly. Ty Lee nodded for her to proceed, "Have you noticed anything, strange about Joy lately?"

Ty Lee nodded then shook her head, "Umm… yes and no. I mean she has been acting strange but she's always kind of isolated herself but I didn't know, right now I've noticed it's- _she's_ been a little off, wandering by herself and not saying much." Suki nodded. She went back to staring at nothing. She was thinking about Joy, she knew something she knew others would not wish to hear or would be upset to hear. "I don't recommend talking to her about it though. She's been a little on edge lately." Ty Lee added. Suki nodded her head. She turned towards the sound of boots wiping against a rug. It was Katara, she walked over to her father and asked Sokka to step back, he hesitated but obeyed his sister's request. SH muttered about how it was time for Hakoda's healing session. She took some regular water and started to slowly apply it to her fathers wound. A small groan escaped his lips. His eyes fluttered but didn't stay open. His wound became a little less pink after his hour session. No one had left or entered the room in that time. They were just staring at Katara's hands, slowly moving back and forth, replacing her water every now and again. When Katara had gathered her things she suggested that they leave Hakoda alone for a few hours. But Sokka wouldn't budge. Finally the girls gave up and went to go find Aang, Zuko, and Toph to discuss the Azula problem, Sokka had no interest in it. Ty Lee shrugged and made her way out the door, twirling as she crossed the threshold. Suki and Katara sighed at this and both made their way out the door, but not before they made one last attempt to convince Sokka to join them. Receiving no answer they walked out. Sokka, once the girls could no longer see him, let one lonely teardrop escape.

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The snow had not returned and Katara made it clear that they most likely wouldn't see another one for a week or so. Toph was cynical about leaving her bed so they all grabbed chairs, made a circle that included Toph's bed, and Aang got a fire going. They sat and discussed their live she the others weren't around Aang brought up how he hadn't seen Momo in a while but no one knew where the lemur had gone Suki told them all bout Sokka's progress and he would obviously rather be with his father then with his friends. Toph talked about Ursa, the two had grown a tight friendship over the past few days, and she told them how Ursa was more like a mother to her then her actual one. She decided, despite Zuko's protests, to tell about a conversation Ursa had with Zuko jus the other day, "So I was lying in bed pretending to sleep when I heard Zuko talking to his mother, they were arguing about something but I couldn't make out what it was. Then Ursa came into my room and Zuko followed her (I had my hand on the ground so I could tell what was going on.) 'But mom, I don't need to, to, explain my love life with you.' He said to her. She laughed and countered with, "Then whey did you tell me you proposed-' a loud 'Ooooo!' came from the group, Zuko hid his face in his hands, Ty Lee laughed and rubbed his back.

"Go Zuko!" Suki mocked. He groaned.

"Okay!" Toph regained their attention, "As I was saying, Ursa was saying; 'Then why did you tell me you proposed? And that Mai kissed you? And why did you-' Zuko stopped her and said that he got it and told her to stop. Ursa laughed and Zuko walked out. When he had gone she said to me, 'You heard every word o that didn't you?' I said yes. She then said, 'make sure you tell that story to his friends and tell me everything that happens.' Then she left. I was laughing so hard I fell off my bed and I promised myself I would tell you guys." The Gaang was laughing so hard they were clutching their stomachs and having difficulty breathing.

"She, she _actually_ said that?" Katara managed. Toph laughed and said yes.

"Zuzu!" Suki giggled, another wave of laughter washed over them. However Zuko glared at the girl and stormed out. He muttered something in Ty Lee's ear before he left. "What did he say?"

Ty Lee had a puzzled look on her face, "He said he was going to find Mai. And that he might reconsider the guest list." The laughing stopped.

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"Yori! Yori! Wake up girl!" Yori's eyes flung open and the covers flew off her bed.

"Uhh… yes, yes sir. Sorry sir." She said trembling as she attempted to bow. The man grunted and scoffed. He took her by the arm and yanked her to the other side of the bed. It didn't really hurt. He pointed at that floor.

"Clean!" he demanded. Then let go of her arm and left the room. She sighed. Yori was a short girl for her age; she barely made five foot three. She had long brown hair that went halfway down her back. And she had jade green eyes. Yori was an intelligent girl, pretty, compassionate and honorable. But where she lived it didn't quite matter. Her parents had died when she was three. She was never told why. She like most girls her age was put up for adoption. She, being so young, was quickly adopted by a gay couple who she absolutely adored. However, when she was seven, one of her adoptive fathers died after being terribly sick for months. Her other father began to sulk and became not abusive, but a rude, nasty man who didn't care about anyone. He just sat in his chair reading scrolls all day and yelling at Yori to clean something. He never actually did anything himself. He was also a little frightened of the girl; at about age five Yori had shown an amazing gift, Yori could see the future. He deceased father had known it was from the spirits, he always said that when the spirits spared her as a child she was given this gift and that someday she would have an incredible journey with her gift being the root of it.

As she was scrubbing the floor she was thinking about her dream; there were glowing arrows and water, earth, fire, and air clashing. And a girl dropping, the arrows no longer glowed, the water stopped and two boys were in tears.

Yori shook her head and stood up; she knew where the dream had taken place, "I guess my journey begins now." She sighed again, grabbed her few belongings; a picture, a book, and a necklace, and crawled out her window under the sunny earth kingdom sun.

**AN: Hope you liked it and the next chapter I can't wait to put up I'm 99% positive you will like it! Remember to review please and keep reading!:) **

**P.S.- SO I just realized there was a typo and CANNOT allow that so I edited it. (that is if you really care…)**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hello everyone! Hope you are still enjoying the story! Hope you love this chapter I had fun writing it because it was pretty difficult!**

**I don't own any characters from A:TLA, however I do own, Kiew, Yori, Koda, Hui-Ying, Rama, and Kala.**

Chapter 7: Momo's Lost Days

The sun was shining but that didn't mean it was any warmer. The lemur had been trying to catch a fish outside of the village and had gotten distracted by a figure in the distance. He sniffed around for a while before deciding it was familiar scent followed it. With no concept of time the lemur had traveled for hours forgetting about Aang, Appa, or anyone who would take care of him. The scent was becoming faint but being in unknown territory Momo kept going. The sun was setting and the tiger-seals were roaring out in the distance. A shadow moved behind some rocks, the lemur's hair stood on end and he hissed. The shadowed disappeared. He kept moving, the shadowed showed it self again, Momo hissed again. But this time the shadow didn't leave. It became clearer. And closer, the lemur continued to hiss and backed up moving faster with each step. After several minutes of hissing the creature revealed itself. The penguin emerged sniffed and waddled away. Momo snarled and took to flight. He soared for a while before he came back to the ground searching for the trail again. After an hour or so of searching he found it. It was stronger this time. His right ear twitched as he walked; there was a splash in the water. The lemur froze; slowly he relaxed his muscles and crept towards the water. A whale was surfacing. When the lemur had gotten close enough he sniffed the animal. The whale lurched. Momo screeched. He was in the mouth of a whale. Hissing and scratching at anything he could touch the lemur cause the side of the mouth to bleed after repeatedly biting and scratching at it. The whale cried out in pain and opened its mouth, allowing the lemur to make his escape. He flew to a safe rock far away from the crying whale. The animal turned around and began to swim away. As the whale was leaving Momo hissed, shooing it off. He began heading in the other direction sniffing the ground once in a while to see if he was on the right trail. Soon after he managed to find the right trail, slightly changing his original direction. The lemur walked for several hours before finding a swarm of bugs heading his way, his wings were out in moments and his mouth was wide, desperate to catch as many bugs as was possible. Once his belly was reasonably satisfied he found a hole in the ground crawled up and fell asleep. The next morning was sunny but no less cold. Momo continued on his route finding the trail easily. As he traveled for a couple hours he began to hear noises. Unfamiliar, yet familiar. There was light and smoke, an image of Aang and Appa passed through the lemur's head and he decided to head for it. When he reached it he slowly edged his way into he camp. There were little creatures running around on two legs making high pitched sounds. Some taller ones were pointing at him and taking notice, making deeper noises he could not understand. Suddenly claw like things were reaching for him, but not invitingly, forcefully and quick. He managed to dodge each attack; he hid behind rocks and snow banks and whatever he could find. Eventually he tried to fly away, only to have sharp sticks fly after him. However he didn't stop flying; he made it back to his trail and followed it until the sounds had gone away and he could find another place to sleep, thoroughly exhausted from all the running and flying. The next morning he continued on his trail afraid to go but hesitant to continue foreword. It was then that a claw had wrapped around him, trapping him. He screeched, and cried, and through quite a fit. But despite that two eyes looked at him through the cold, metal cage.

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"Do we have it? Is it really his lemur? Do you think he will come looking for it?" Zhong said without breathing.

"Calm yourself Zhong. I'm positive that this is the Avatar's lemur. And knowing his track record it wont be long before he goes looking for it, if he hasn't already." The taller man of the two said. Zhong nodded his head and walked away. Zhong was a tall man with short brown hair and hazel eyes. He wasn't very muscular but, if he was put in the situation, he was cunning enough to defeat his opponent. Being Ty Lee's brother he grew up learning how to chi block and taught Ty Lee what he knew. He was never a very sociable person and was one of the few of his siblings who encouraged his sister to peruse her dream of leaving home and joining the circus. Not that he approved of the circus as a lifestyle choice but he never approved Azula as her friend. She and Mai were never a good influence on Ty Lee and he didn't want her associated with the royal family. He knew how evil Ozai was and knew what he was capable of. When Ty Lee left his life went down hill. It became boring, Ty Lee was his favorite sister she was always in a sunny mood and was always able to make him feel better when he was feeling down. He was also fiercely protective of her.

"Uh, hi- hi Zhong." Zhong nodded to the young girl looking at him.

"Hi Mei, how are you?" She smiled, she was short and beautiful. She had gorgeous hazel eyes and soft pink lips. She wasn't the thinnest girl but that didn't take away from her features. She was also a very kind person. She was sweet and quiet. Zhong was very fond of her.

"Oh! Umm… I'm fine. And you?" She smiled. He shrugged, "Oh umm… this is for you!" She handed a small scroll. "_He_ gave it to me." He nodded understanding what she meant.

"Thank you Mei." She nodded and waited for Zhong to walk before she continued on her way. The ship was cold and rusty. Pipes creaked and water sometimes dripped from the walls, which scared the crew half to death. As he was walking down the hall to his room his best friend, Piao, caught up with him, also a fellow guard. "Hey Piao."

"Looks like someone has _quite_ the crush on you." The warrior winked. Zhong rolled his eyes. "Hey, what was that?"

"THE AVATAR'S LEMUR IS ESCAPING." Someone shouted from outside. The two men ran. Momo had gotten loose by opening his cage. At the moment he was dancing across heads, hoping from one head to another. A strange noise came out of his throat. The captain had him by the tail, clenching it tightly, causing him excruciating pain. Water dripped from the lemurs' eyes as he tried to escape.

"MEI." The captain yelled, "COME HERE." She was shivering, her head was down as she walked to him, when she got there he raised his hand immediately snapping it back causing a scream to escape from Mei's mouth. Zhong and Piao flinched. Her eyes watered and she found blood dripping to her hand from inside her mouth. "What happened?" His voice boomed. She cringed again.

"I- I don't know. I went to watch him and he got away." she began to cry.

"Idiot girl." He snarled, he pushed her out of his way and she fell to the ground. He demanded Piao help him contain the animal and Zhong went to go help Mei up. Everyone dispersed before Zhong could get Mei to her feet.

"Jerks." He mumbled, "Are you going to be okay?" It was a rhetorical question, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. She kept her head down and nodded. He put his hand on her chin to lift her head but she yanked her head down. "Why don't you just leave?" he said sitting next to her. She shook her head. He nudged her shoulder.

"He's my uncle, my parents are dead. What am I suppose to do? I have no were to go and no friends to help me get there." She began to cry again. "Please go away. I don't need you to see me like this." She stumbled to her feet and began to walk to her uncle's cabin, where she slept.

Zhong reached out and grabbed her hand, "Stay with me and Piao tonight, please." She opened her mouth to protest but closed it and nodded. When they got to the room Piao was laying on the bed, trying to drown out Momo's loud screeching, grinning when he saw the two walk in. Mei blushed and Zhong stated they had company, making her a bed. He closed the door and let the lemur out, giving him food and gaining his trust. Momo purred and curled in the girls lap. She stroked his fur before falling asleep. Piao and Zhong watched her for a while, waking her up every once in a while to clean out her mouth of the dry and new blood.

"Think she'll be okay?" Zhong said, quite concerned. He sat next to Mei and stroked her hair.

Piao laughed, "'Spose so. When are you going to tell her how you feel? She likes you, you know."

Zhong shook his head, "I don't think so. She's just shy and I'm 24, she's 19; too much of an age difference."

"Not really…" Piao said, annoyed. They've had the same conversation before; he could never convince Zhong that they should be together. He sighed, "Whatever." He threw his pillow over his face and fell asleep. Zhong shook his head and watched Momo crawl along the wall and find a spot to fall asleep.

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The Gaang was getting ready to move, Katara was rigid and ready to go. Toph was the same way. Sokka decided to stay behind to help get Hakoda back on his feet, who was recovering miraculously.

"Ready to go?" Aang said, relaxed.

"Come on let's move!" Katara said; she was anxious to find Azula. She wanted a rematch.

"Yip Yip!" Aang shouted. Katara glared at the sky, 'I'm coming Azula.' She thought to her self.

**AN: So chapter 7, hope you like it! Zhong, Mei, and Piao and the Captain are going to be important in this story so don't think it was just fluff! Keep reading and review! I will update as soon as possible. Thanks if you've kept reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Here you go, as soon as possible. Hope everyone's having a good June! If you're done with school have a great summer! If not, well me either and it SUCKS. **

**Hawk2012: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. You have no idea how happy it makes me to read a review! (Well, maybe you do, I don't know…)**

**GAKUENALICEROCKS: I will update ASAP! : ) but it can be so hard!**

**I do not own A:TLA, BUT WHY? (tears flow again)**

Chapter 8: Confrontation, More Meetings, and A Fortuneteller

Toph was sleeping and Katara was steering Appa, giving Aang a break, although he didn't leave her side. The few Kyoshi warriors who decided to come where at the back of the saddle keeping to themselves. It was pitch black, it was a new moon and difficult to travel.

"Really Yue?" Aang joked. Katara ignored it, Aang sighed. His feeble attempts to make her laugh weren't worth it. He worried about her, but she didn't want that. She was strong but Aang knew how vulnerable she was and it hurt him to see her so upset. He grabbed her hand, she didn't pull her hand away, but she didn't make the effort to hold his hand back, "Please?" He said quietly. She didn't answer, he wanted her to say something, and he had been begging her all night. Just then a head popped up next to Aang.

"Where are we?" Toph said, wearily. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Aang chuckled.

"Don't know, can't see anything." Aang replied. Toph sighed and fell back asleep.

"How are we supposed to find Momo?" One of the girls asked.

Aang shrugged, "Maybe tracks? Or maybe someone has seen him. I'm not sure." He stared out into the distance. The girl scoffed and mumbled about how the trip was 'a waste of time'. She went back with the other girls and sat down crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at her feet. Her friend rolled her eyes, telling her that finding Momo was important to them, and if Suki said they needed to go, well that was it. She scoffed again. A while later Joy went to the front of the saddle and took a deep breath before attempting to say something, "What is it?" Aang said, before she could begin.

"I have to tell you something." She whispered. Aang raised and eyebrow.

"Well, what is it?"

She stuttered for a while then said, "Nothing." Before Aang could comment, she crawled to a corner of the saddle and fell asleep. Or, at least, attempted to, but Aang wasn't going to disturb her.

"What was that?" Katara finally mumbled. Aang was taken aback; he looked at her wide-eyed and stuttered into his next sentence, "Spit it out." She commanded.

"Uh- I- I don't know; never happened before." He managed. She nodded but didn't speak again for the rest of the night. When dawn finally came Toph had woken again and was complaining about needing to use the bathroom. She was grumpy and, well, Toph, and Aang wasn't eager to challenge her on any subject. So Katara spotted a village and made the descent. Toph jumped off the bison and stumbled into the village demanding someone 'help a blind girl who needs you to find her the stupid bathroom!' Aang laughed as he saw her stumble and told one of the warriors to go help her. Hui-Ying got down and helped the others.

"Think she'll be okay?" Hui asked Aang concernedly. Katara ignored their help to get down, Aang would have carried her but she wasn't having it. Joy was the only one who didn't get off the saddle, stating she'd come if they needed her help in battle.

"I don't know." He said shaking his head.

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The Order of the White Lotus was meeting for another time, one of several meetings. Each meeting has been based on the situation with Azula and the Avatar. Zuko had just sent word that Aang had gone to find his missing flying lemur but was worried that they might run into Azula out in the frozen wilderness. The sun was just rising when Piandao reached the meeting. The higher ranking members where in their appropriate spots and Piandao took the open seat next to Iroh, who had saved it for him. The air was brisk and the dew had still not totally evaporated, so the doors were closed and the windows were locked. New members were still arriving so it was a while before the meeting officially began. Piandao spoke first, "What is all this about? I was under the impression that we established that the fire nation would send in troops only when the Avatar requested it."

"That was the original plan." Jeong Jeong said.

"But then we got this letter from Azula," Iroh continued, "Let me read it;

Uncle-

As you may have heard I am in the South Pole. I deemed this message safe due to the fact that you will not receive it until my plan has made its impact. By now the filth that is the chief of the Southern Water Tribe is dead or dying and his daughter is planning on finding me. It will be the rematch of the century. To bad you won't be there to watch her die. My mother has been following me, I got rid of her though. I just thought it might interest you to know that by the time his letter reaches you it will be too late. Your troops won't arrive in time and you have no faster means of transportation. Of course you must send this message to Zuzu as well. Father has escaped.

-Azula" One of the younger members bowed his head at the last words. Piandao raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer, "Ozai escaped the other night. I don't know how." Iroh answered. Piandao nodded, retaining the information. "We'll still need to send troops," He continued, "We need to help however we can. Azula is just trying to scare everyone; she wants us to believe that she has everything planned out. But I have a trick," Jeong Jeong rose and eyebrow, "Dragons." Iroh said simply.

"Dragons?" Someone at the table asked.

He nodded, "Dragons."

"That's not possible, they're all dead!" a girl yelled.

"Hush, child!" Piandao said. Iroh nodded for the high ranking members to follow him.

"Sun Warrior Civilization." Iroh whispered.

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The sun was hot on her back but Yori kept walking. She had hitched rides for two days and had made it to Whale Tail Island. She was close to her destination. The island was named, not only for its shape, but for all the whales that came near by. There was not one moment where one could look out onto the crystal blue waters and not see a tail of a whale. Yori was trying to get a boat out and was lucky to come by a man named Bato, who was making his way back to the Southern Water Tribe. She had been sitting at the port for hours, waiting for the man to come back. She had seen a family of Turtle-ducks cross the road – which was strange because they were normally only found in the fire nation, or that's what she was always told – and she saw some Koala-seals swim by. She figured she'd be getting a ride with the whales when the man finally showed up. He was hurrying, untying ropes and pushing everyone onto the boats. She was forced to the back of the main boat where she sat for hours. When Bato finally came to talk to her she had fallen asleep. He grabbed her bag and moved it to the side then picked her up and brought her to one of the empty beds below deck. He up some blankets on her then walked out reminding himself to have her tell him what was so important. Yori was tossing and turning that night, her dreams were so vivid…

_The air was still as the two opponents faced each other. Both women were there to kill. Two boys ran to the girl, one looked like her relative and had a pony tail, the other had an arrow on his head and was bald, determination and worry lined their faces. _

"_Don't do it Katara," The bald boy begged, "She's not worth it. Let me handle it." He put up his hand and rested it on her shoulder. But the girl jerked away._

"_Shut up! Shut UP! I have to do this. This needs to end now!" The girl screamed._

"_Come on Katara, come get me. Your father is dying or dead because of me. Come and get me!" The other girl chanted. She was cackling, knowing she was causing the girl pain. The boy with the pony tail was on the verge of tears, and the bald one wasn't to far away._

"_Why won't you die?" The girl named Katara whispered, "Why won't you DIE?" She then yelled._

"_Why don't you come get me?" The other one taunted. Katara shot spears of ice at the girl, but from behind the cackling girl a fire whip came and grabbed Katara by the wrist. She screamed out in pain, the bald boy used water to destroy the whip. Katara began to cry and so did he. His arrows glowed and he began fighting 10 to 1 as more fire benders appeared. Katara got to her feet and was battling the cackling girl. The avatar – she assumed due to the fact that he was bending all the elements – raged on but everything stopped when one of the girls screamed. One girl was no longer cackling, she had the look of purest loathing on her face and she had two fingers pointing at a figure on the ground._

"_KATARA!" The two boys yelled. They both ran to her tears flowing down their face. The girl began laughing again, slowly backing away, running off into the distance. _

Yori jerked awake, panting heavily. Then put her hand on her forehead, it was wet, she had been sweating. She knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. "Oh man." She said shaking her head. She discovered her legs were stiff and hard to move as she attempted to get out of the bed. She shook her head again. Stumbling out of the room she walked into the blinding morning sun. "Ahh!" she groaned. She shielded her eyes with her hands. The air smelled like salt and dead fish. She wrinkled her nose, she didn't like it. With not a cloud in the sky, she predicted a good day. The boat was passing icebergs. She looked up in awe, the monstrous towers of ice slowly faded off into the distance, but as more icebergs went by, even more were coming closer. She smiled knowing they were approaching on their destination. As she was standing letting her eyes adjust and admiring the still diamond like ice a hand rested on her shoulder. She jerked away, and a deep laugh came from behind her.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm Bato." She turned around and instantly felt okay; he had pale blue eyes and a caring smile. His left side was scarred but it only made her feel, safer. Like the man was brave and… true. 

"No, no. I- I'm just easily startled is all."

"What was so important that you needed a ride to my home?" Bato asked her.

"It's complicated," He raised an eyebrow; she wasn't going to be able to just leave it at that, she sighed, "Okay, her goes…" She continued to tell him her two dreams, who she was, and what she was capable of. He was respectful the entire time. Asking questions where appropriate and he didn't interrupt. He didn't challenge her and she was grateful. He left without saying a word. She sat by herself until they arrived at the village. The boy with the pony tail met them at the dock. "You!" she yelled at him. The boy flinched.

"What? Who, me?" he asked, pointing at his chest.

"Yes you! Someone you know is going to die, we need to stop it." The boy looked at her in awe, trying to say something but couldn't get anything out. She looked at him disappointed. She shook her head, "I'm so, so sorry." She said giving the bug-eyed boy a hug.

**AN: So I find that whenever I sit down at my computer and go "Okay time to write for these people because I would probably be just as impatient and annoyed at the late updates. LETS DO THIS." I then find myself on facebook… DARN YOU FACEBOOK. Computer + internet access = one annoyed teenager because she can't stop herself from going on the facebook **

**Hahaha, well read and review, and as always ENJOY:D **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Thank you for your patience these past two weeks have been long and busy. I've been visiting with my family and, unfortunately, left my notebook and flash drive at home with no way to get it back, so I had nothing to go off of and now I have to wait longer to post because the internet is being stupid. GAHHH. Anyway… It's so relaxing and fun where I am and I hope you are having a wonderful summer wherever it may be! So Chapter 9 everyone, man it feels good to be writing again!**

**PS- I think I'm going to start recapping so we don't forget where we left off – well, mainly because I have a bad tendency to be extremely late with updates and I profusely apologize for that; **

**Previously On Avatar:**

**Aang, Katara, Toph, Joy, Hui-Ying, and a few of the Kyoshi warriors were on a mission to find Momo; Joy attempted to tell her secret to Aang but chickened out. And Katara finally spoke. The Order had another meeting and Azula decided to scare them and send them a letter, but Iroh has a trick up his sleeve. Yori was on her way to the South Pole and had a vivid vision, she then meets Sokka where she gives him some disturbing news… now…**

**I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

Chapter 9: Momo's New and Old Families

Mei and Zhong were snoring, with Momo in Zhong's lap. The boat was softly rocking back and forth. Mei's head fell and rested on Zhong's shoulder, his head rested on hers. After a while the door slammed open and Piao walked in franticly looking around. He laid his eyes on the two and snorted. Mei jerked awake, and, in consequence, so did Zhong.

"Get up!" Piao hissed, "The captain is looking for you!"

"What?" Mei gulped, "Oh lord! I'm going to get in so much trouble." She shook her head and, hopping on one foot, tried to get her shoe on. She fell into Zhong's arms, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, I'm leaving."

"No, you're coming with us." Zhong stated, grabbing her by the arms.

"Come again?" Piao said, wringing his hands.

"We're leaving." Zhong said, "Now. Let's go." Mei looked at him in awe, Piao mirrored her.

"MEI." Came the captains' voice, "Idiot girl… You get out here if you know what's good for you!" Mei cringed at his words and made her way towards the door handle, her hand was outstretched, reaching, and slightly shaking. Zhong grabbed her hand and put a finger to his lips. They backed away from the door, two shadows went by quickly, the other came with a loud clanking noise, the shadow lingered near the door but continued on. The three friends held their breath, Mei had her arms around Zhongs' waist and her head in his chest, and tears were beginning to form. He was holding her tightly. Piao was holding the lemur still, trying to prevent him from making any sort of noise. When the shadows and clanking all finally disappeared they exhaled in relief.

"Let's get moving." Zhong said with determination. "Piao, you take the lemur, sneak him out to this area of the ship," Zhong handed him a map and pointed to where he meant, "Mei and I will pack only what we need, we're about a day's trip from the South Pole, maybe a little longer. But we can rest there."

Piao interrupted him, "Now wait, I have no problem leaving, the captain is a sick, twisted, and abusive man. But bringing the lemur? We carried it from the South Pole to here, and now you just want to bring it back?" He shook his head, "Doesn't make much sense to me. The thing is too much of a burden."

"Well I'm not leaving it here! You said it yourself; the captain is a sick man." Piao groaned but started gathering his possessions – which wasn't a lot – and hid the lemur. Mei started packing what they would need for the journey. Piao snuck out the door, making sure to only step on his toes.

"What if we get caught?" Mei whispered, as she was closing a bag.

"The whole ship wants to see that you're safely away from that man, as long as your uncle doesn't find us, I think we will be okay. Do you need me to carry that for you?" His hand was outstretched, but she gave him a disapproving look. Even though she was helpless when it came to her uncle, she really was a strong woman. Her uncle had just pushed so much fear into her life; she was reluctant to show who she was, which was a persevered, hot-headed, and skilled martial artist, and extremely intelligent. Piao poked his head back in the door. He nodded for them to follow and they crept out of the room. It was morning, but still dark enough for the trio to be able to sneak on a boat and row away. As they were tip-toeing down a hallway, a door creaked behind them; there was a sharp inhale from the group, but the door was closed and remained so; they walked to the door at the end of the hall Piao and slowly opened it, trying to prevent loud noises. They cringed when it made a loud EEK noise, but no one came to check. Mei, more confident then before did some what of a dance as she made her way to the edge of the ship. She was careful to make no sound. Zhong stared at her and Piao had to push him for Zhong to come back and pay attention to the situation. He motioned for Zhong to continue on; he nodded at Piao and gently placed his foot over the threshold. Voices came from behind them, the men froze. They could see Mei on the other side, her jaw had dropped but she clenched it and jumped to hide in the boat. The foot steps were getting closer behind Zhong and Piao.

"When I get my hands on that girl, she is going to wish she had died with her parents." The captain was coming closer. Zhong looked at Piao, absolutely terrified, he formed a word with his mouth, 'Run'. The men took off in a sprint, trying to make the least noise possible, however their attempts were futile, "What was that?" the captain said.

"I'm not sure sir, but it sounded like it came from out there."

"Move!" The captain yelled. Zhong and Piao had reached the boat. They both scrambled in the boat with Mei pulling on their shirts. There were under a top when they heard the footsteps stop.

"Which way did they go?" the captain growled. The group was holding their breath, not daring to look out, in fear of being caught. It then began to rain, "Damn, go this way, that wimp of a girl wouldn't be able to stay out in the rain." Mei glowered at the floor at the statement. They sat still until they were sure the footsteps had disappeared. They took the cover down and lowered the boat, thankful for the mist that was forming. Mei was still glowered at the floor as Piao slowly rowed the boat away from the ship. They were sitting in the rain for hours; an awkward silence had filled their morning and was sneaking into the afternoon. They had no food and Piao was beginning to get grouchy. Zhong had confronted him after he had brutally insulted Mei. That had been the only talking until Zhong had pointed out that they were passing more and more icebergs. Mei never spoke, and never moved, she just stared at her feet. The rain had stopped but the clouds decided to linger. The wind picked up and it had become quite chilly. Zhong, noticing Mei slightly shivering, had attempted to give her his jacket, he was again, awarded with an annoyed look, she didn't want or need his help, and she didn't care for the offer. He awkwardly brought his hands back and stared at them for a while. After Piao got tired of rowing he and Zhong switched. The trio had forgotten that Momo was with them until the lemur was going crazy whining trying to fly towards land. Piao had to grab him and hold the flying lemur in his lap.

"Looks like he knows where he is." Piao finally spoke.

Zhong nodded, "Yeah, looks like it."

"I need to talk to you," Mei looked at Zhong, "Umm… later." She put her head back down and continued to look at her feet.

"Uh… okay." Zhong said. Piao chuckled, and look off into the distance when Zhong glared at him.

"Doesn't look far now, maybe a few minutes," Piao said, "Hey, look over there, in the sky." Zhong looked to where Piao was pointing. A giant flying bison was soaring along the horizon, he gazed over to where the bison had come from; smoke was coming from behind some cliffs.

"Let's head in that direction," Zhong said, pointing at the plume of smoke, "We'd never catch up with the bison. Maybe they can help us, give us a place to stay." Piao shook his head.

"No, look, there flying down, we should follow them," Zhong shrugged at the statement then agreed. The boat began turning heading for where the bison had landed. The sun was beginning to set and it was bringing a soft orange glow to the sky that made the ice sparkle. The clouds lit up with reds and purples and Mei stared up at the clouds, deep in thought. Zhong watched her; her hair ruffled in the wind and her eyes glistened. Her cheeks had a soft pink to them, and her lips were a rosy red. But that might have been because of the cold. She had mentioned that her lips went a deep red when she got cold; and Zhong loved it. Her whole body shivered and when Zhong just watched her Piao rolled his eyes and gave her his jacket. She tried to reject the offer but he wasn't having it, she eventually gave in, smiled and thanked him. Her eyes then darted to a spot on land and Zhong looked to where she pointed. They ran into an iceberg.

"Monkey-feathers!" Zhong yelled. He pushed off the ice with an oar begging the spirits they hadn't ruined their boat. Piao bent over the side and yelled, "We're good!" Then gave Zhong a thumbs-up. Zhong sighed and helped him back in the boat.

"Maybe I better row," Mei giggled, after being silent for a number of hours, "You two seem, well, tired and stupid."

"Stupid?" Piao said placing his hand on his chest, "I'm hurt!" He laughed.

She giggled again and took the oars from Zhong, "Thank you." He nodded. He closed his eyes and rested his arms on his stomach; it wasn't long before he was snoring softly. Mei watched him with a smile on her face. And Piao watched her.

"Mei," he said.

"Hmm…?"

"What exactly happened to your parents?" He tilted his head to the side and she exhaled loudly. She pushed out her cheeks and stopped rowing, staring at the sky.

"I was six years old… _The sky was an ominous black and there were people running in all directions, Mei, holding her stuffed platypus-bear was crying, trying to find her parents. She was hit and fell to the ground, someone had kicked her in the stomach, and oh did it hurt. Her crying became louder and she was screaming for her mother and father. A man came and picked her up before another herd of people ran at her. She hadn't realized who picked her up until she looked at his face, her grandfather was holding her and was running towards their house, where she saw her older brother standing in the door way. He was motioning her grandfather inside, the boy's eyes darted in every direction; he was both terrified and determined. When they reached the door it was slammed shut behind them, scrapping her grandfathers' heels. Mei was still crying, frantically looking everywhere for her parents. Her mother came around a corner and Mei almost managed to jump out of her grandfathers hands before he caught her._

"_Mama," she yelled. _

"_Darling," her mother said, reaching for her small child. Her mother was a short woman; she had dark hair and hazel eyes. She had a soft loving smile and a twinkle in her eyes. Even in fear and sadness, Mei felt protected and loved. But, Mei began crying again, her mother tried to comfort her; she took her into a corner just before the door flung open and three men charged inside. Mei was shoved behind her mother into a corner. She was still weeping but her mother was fierce and silenced her. No one noticed them in the background._

"_Where is it?" One of the men asked. He was short and he too had dark hair and hazel eyes, just like Mei's mother._

"_Where is what?" The grandfather retorted calmly._

"_It." The man simply said. Mei's mother came out from behind her father, and walked strait up to the man, with a look of deepest loathing on her face._

"_Leave." Mei's mother said. She pointed towards the door._

"_Not until I have what I want."_

"_What do you want?" The brother snarled. The man slapped him across the face, the family flinched and Mei glared at the man who could not see her._

"_Shut up," he snarled back, "The map and information, Jia, give it to me." He was looking at the mother. She was helping her child up. The boy had tears in his eyes and a red mark across his cheek, he sniffed and wobbled a little before he was able to stand without his mother's help._

"_You may be my brother and twin by blood Jie, but you are not family. You are an evil man, leave this house." _

_Jie laughed, "I think not." Before Jia could get herself away from her she was struck. A mixture of lightning and fire had hit her in the throat and chest. Two large gashes had formed and blood had spattered her child, a boy of eleven was holding his mothers' spazzing body that suddenly went limp. He burst into tears and Mei, still behind the wall, wasn't able to move, she wasn't able to cry, she couldn't even breathe. The world spun and she wished she was dead but the world wouldn't let her die, it wouldn't let her go with her mother, the universe was against her, a six year old. It was then that a tall man with jet black hair and green eyes came running into the room and stared in awe at what lay in front of him._

"_Dad," The boy managed._

"_Qing," The uncle glared._

"_What. Did. You. Do?" Qing sat down beside his wife, stroking her hair, his tears hit her chest. "What did you do?" Qing demanded._

"_Tell me what I want to know." Jie said. Qing shook his head and stood up, tears still flowing down his face._

"_You're a cold and heartless killer! How could you do that to your own sister? Your twin?" _

"_Information," Jie said bluntly._

_Qing shook his head, the Jie began forming his lightening, "All right! All right, I'll give you the information you need." Jie nodded, a smirk danced across his lips but quickly faded. The grandfather was rocking back and forth in a corner, trying hard not to believe what he had just witnessed. His grandson tried to comfort him but to no avail, "Here they are," Qing said, "The maps and reports," He handed Jie several scrolls, "Now please leave."_

"_No."_

"_What?" Qing said in disbelief_

"_No," Before Qing could demand an answer Jie had the deadly mixture of fire and lightening formed and struck down the father and son. His father looked at him in disbelief, "I won't kill you." Jie said simply to the only person he had any sympathy for._

"_No," His father took to his feet, struggling to keep his balance. In just the past few minutes he looked liked he had aged twenty years, his face was screaming sadness and disappointment. He looked at the boy he raised and said, "Kill me, but watch your niece." Jie nodded, throughout the years he only cared about his father, the man who had been most important in his life. He didn't care about his sister, nephew, niece, and brother-in-law, they were disposable. But, believing he was a fair man, would do what his father said; but it didn't mean he would care about her. Mei watched as her grandfather as he fell to the ground, then the screaming started; she rushed out from her corner and fell on her grandfathers' torso. Sobbing in his chest, and soaking his shirt. Someone pulled her off of him, but it wasn't her uncle, it was a boy, not eight years older then her, who had tears in his eyes. She noticed it was uncomfortable to be carried out, the boy had ropes around his hands, and was being towed by an older man, not paying either of them any attention. As Mei was crying and struggling to get free the boy soothed her, trying to make her feel better. When he felt no one could hear him he said his name was Gao, and that Jie, too, had killed his parents and had taken him. He said they were going to a ship and that he could help her leave; if she wanted his help. She ignored him, and continued to struggle. He tried to quiet her but it wasn't long before the man holding on to the rope said, "Silence your self child, or I shall silence you _myself_." Mei gulped and held her tears and the lump in her throat. Gao had more tears in his eyes. Mei looked curiously at the boy, wondering what was making _him_ cry. _His_ parents hadn't just been killed. What was _he _worried about? Throughout the night she had been cleaning everything her uncle pointed too. He gave her several hours for sleep, but she had cried the whole time. Each second was replaying in her head, and it did for another 13 years._

"That's what happened." She whispered when she was finished. She hung her head and began to shake, tears were falling into her lap, and she started to hyperventilate. Zhong rushed to her side before Piao could even move. He had her in his lap and tears were cascading down his face. Piao quickly realized Zhong had heard the entire story, and it had killed him to listen to it, and to see her in the pain she was in telling the story. Piao had wanted to interrupt her throughout the entire story, and just stop her, but his curiosity was too strong. He took the oars and started rowing towards the bison as fast as he could, he knew they would need shelter… and soon.

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The Gaang had just landed and set up camp for the night. They weren't quite ready for bed, and the sun hadn't totally set. Katara had warmed up to Aang and she was leaning on him, but she wasn't trying to remain in the conversation, and no one was pushing her. Toph was the highlight of the night. She was always cracking a joke; she had the group in tears and their nails clawing at their stomachs. The air was chilly and Appa yawned so loud a bird screeched and flew as fast as it could away from the large beast. Aang kept the fire going and Katara kept the ice from melting around the fire. Joy had fallen asleep in the saddle Aang had taken off Appa's back, no one had bothered her. Katara had dozed off after moving away from Aang. When she was unconscious Aang had put a blanket on her. Toph looked over at the couple with sadness, Katara had been pulling away from everyone and her warming up to Aang was hardly a milestone, she loved him, she couldn't stay mad at him forever, but she didn't think they would be a couple much longer. Aang curled up next to a sleeping Appa and attempted to go to sleep, but before he could drift off into the sleep he so craved, someone was yelling.

"What was that?" Toph said, moving her head from side to side.

"I don't know." Aang answered, he airbended himself up onto a small column of ice. He squinted his eyes at the boat that was coming, "Is that; is that _Momo_?"

"Momo?" Katara said, finally waking up, "Where is he?"

"On that boat I think!" Aang yelled back, in a strained voice, he was leaning over as far as he could to try and get a better view, "I'm going to go see who they are! And how they got my lemur." Aang pulled out his glider and soared to the unknown boat, "Hello?" he shouted at the boat. He heard Momo screech then he saw the lemur fly strait for him, "Momo! Stop!" Momo, however, didn't and smacked right into Aang's stomach. "Gahh!" Aang's eyes bugged out and he got the wind knocked out of him. He began to fall a little before catching himself. He landed smoothly on the boat. He looked at the new faces staring at him, mouths were open, and eyes were wide. "Hello." Aang said cheerfully.

"Are you the Avatar?" The girl asked. He nodded. She stared at him, wondering about something, Aang wasn't quite sure what it was. One of the boys was rowing the boat and the other wrapped his arms around the girl's stomach.

"Umm… Can we help you with anything?" The girl shrugged. The one rowing answered his question.

"Can we stay with you tonight? We have no food, no shelter, no where to go." He stopped rowing and looked up at the boy. Aang shrugged then nodded. The boy went back to rowing. But Aang figured it would be faster and easier if he used waterbending to get them back to the camp. He made swaying motions with his arms and the boat began moving quicker then before.

"I'm Piao." The boy who had been rowing said. He looked up at Aang then down at his feet. He was holding his hands together, as if trying to resist something.

Aang rose his eyebrow curiously, but quickly dropped it, "I'm Aang." Piao nodded. He already knew the answer but Aang was trying to be polite.

"I'm Mei." The girl said, and she outstretched her hand. The boy with is arms around her flinched when their fingers met. Aang hesitated. "Sorry," Mei said, "It's a fire nation… attitude, I guess. He has been trained to capture you, that's why we had your lemur." Aang nodded in understanding, he knew it would take a while for people to let go of what they had been taught their entire lives. But he had so much hope for the world; he knew people would come to understand. "This is Zhong." Mei said, holding his hands next to her stomach, again in some restraint. Aang knew the men desperately wanted to capture him, out of instinct, but were quite capable of fighting it, and they wanted to.

"We would be glad to help you, we can take you back to our camp in the South Pole, or we could continue on, my girlfriend wants to… uh… _find_ someone. So we need to keep going."

"We can head that way," Piao said, "We don't want to make a life here anyway. Uh… no offense." Aang shrugged and said it was nothing and that it didn't matter to him.

"TWINKLETOES!" Toph yelled from the shore, "WHAT'S GOING ON? SUGAR QUEEN IS GETTING ANTSY!"

"SHUT UP TOPH!" Aang heard Katara yell, he laughed and shook his head.

"So, is sugar queen your girl friend or Toph?" Piao said.

"Sugar Queen," Aang laughed, "ON MY WAY!" Aang yelled back. They made it back to shore and Aang introduced everyone. He explained how they had brought back Momo and that they were going to travel with them until they find their own route. Katara took no interest in any of this and dozed back off. Aang asked her if she could figure out what was wrong with her, Mei said she would try but she would have to get to know her first and that could take a while. Aang sulked but said okay. He offered to find them a place to sleep but they refused and convinced him that they were okay. Aang curled up into his spot next to Appa. The sun had finally set and Yue set off a soft glow. They all slept well that night.

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Yori was talking to Suki, "Should I tell him who?" Yori asked Suki.

"No." Suki said simply. Yori sighed, she wanted to tell Sokka who was going to die, but she didn't want him to freak out anymore then he already was. Just then Sokka came bursting into the room.

"Come." He said to Suki then rushed back out the door. Suki looked puzzled then her eyes lit up in understanding.

"Go." Yori said. She already knew what was going on. Suki nodded. As she left Yori sighed again. Hakoda had taken a turn for the worse, and the outcome didn't look so great.

**AN: I know, I know, Meis' story was really depressing, when I was writing it I almost began to cry, the poor girl! Evil, evil, man… possible foreshadowing? Hmm…? And I know, I'm just so mean to Hakoda, I do love him, don't think I'm punishing him! Anyway, hope this was worth the wait and I'm going to start on Chapter 10 hopefully tomorrow! *blows kiss* G'Night Everybody! **

**P.S. - Only cool 90's kids will understand my reference. Remember; The 90's are All That! ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: HIIII GUUUYYSSSS :) I'm kind of in a good mood! So, I want to say, that from here on out I will refer to myself as; Luna (I know it's not an Asian name but I absolutely LOVE Harry Potter!) Oh, and I realize I need to start picking more Japanese names. If you like any, share them in a review and if I like them I would love to have them in my story! I would also love to read your ideas for the story, obviously I'm going to stick to my original plot but I would be more the willing to add different ideas I haven't considered! So, I was thinking of doing some fluff for some of the couples but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to make the relationships like overly mushy, you know? Maybe I'll do some side work. I'd love to do some Kataang stuff but I don't want to incorporate it into my story. I've just been in that sort of mood… Well, review and tell me what you thing I should do, if you want it I'll write it! (To an extent…)**

**Zuko: (sees Luna crying) Hey, what's the matter? Why are you crying?**

**Luna: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender *sniff* stupid me for not thinking it first…**

**Zuko: No, but I still love you.**

**Luna: Really? *smiles***

**Zuko: No.**

**Luna: *pouts in corner***

**Previously on Avatar:**

**Piao, Mei, and Zhong escaped the ship and are now traveling with Aang and his group until they find their own path. Mei finally told her story about her parents. And Hakoda has taken a turn for the worse… **

**Now on with the show!**

Luna

Chapter 10: Truth, Dragons, and, What Do You Know? More Truth!

Zuko and Sokka were sitting next to Hakoda. Both couples were holding hands, occasionally squeezing another's hand in encouragement. Sokka had one hand on his father's shoulder. Hakoda's body was shaking and sweat was dripping down his pale face. Suki had to keep moving her hand because Sokka's were so clammy from his own sweat. But she wasn't, however, going to let go. Zuko and Mai were asked to leave by one of the healers. They were reluctant at first but Suki shooed them off reassuring them that everything was going to be okay. Rama walked in after Zuko and Mai left, she was dressed in her healing outfit which was a knee length blue jacket with a white square in the middle of her chest. She took the jacket off and handed it to Suki, noticing her shivering. Rama explained that Hakoda had a minor set back and that he had a small seizure. But she was sure Hakoda would be fine. Sokka scoffed at her feeble attempt to make him feel better. She sighed and went back over to begin one of the many healing sessions Hakoda would need. Suki sighed as well and removed her hand from Sokka's now light grasp; she then grabbed his wrist and forced him to look at her.

"We need to talk." She said forcefully. Sokka was taken aback by her fierceness but, realizing there was no refusing her, nodded his head and agreed to go.

As they stepped outside they were immediately covered with snow. They ran back to Sokka's hut where she sat down on one of the wolf skin rugs and he got the fire going. She never did understand how they got the fire going in such an icy and snowy environment.

Once he got the fire going, he sat down on the same brown rug Suki was sitting on and looked her in the eyes, "What do we need to talk about?" he asked her after some silence.

"Do you love me?" She asked, keeping eye contact with him.

He gave her a confused look but nodded, "Of course I do. How could you ever think otherwise?"

"Then why have you been distancing yourself from me ever since we arrived?"

Sokka stuttered an answer but her face gave a 'cut the crap' look so he exhaled and explained what had happened. He told her about his mother and how it tore him up inside to think that if he had gone with Katara, maybe his mother would still be alive. Suki had tried to interrupt him at that point but he ignored her and kept going. He told her about Yue, and how he felt guilty for her death. Suki tried to remind him how it was also a birth, but he, again, ignored her. He then told her about the boy who died during Azula's raid and how he felt responsible for that, "I was his protector," he explained, "It's my duty to take care of those kids, and I failed." He slumped and wrapped his arms around his knees. Suki looked at her boyfriend in understanding. He felt like he needed to do something for his father, but he knew there was nothinghe _could_ do. And it tore him up inside. He began to cry and so did she. They sat like that for a while, until Yori showed up.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but…"

"No, its fine," Suki said, rubbing her eyes, "Go ahead."

Yori inhaled deeply, "Okay," She sat down next to Sokka, "Sokka, I'm going to tell you who is; well, I should say might die," He nodded for her to continue, "I need you to relax…"

"Wait," He interrupted, "it's not my dad is it?" Her eyes widened, she hadn't thought about that situation, "Honestly, I have not seen an outcome for that situation, this one is completely different," He nodded again for her to continue, "It's Katara."

"What?" He said jumping to his feet, Suki had never seen him so awake in weeks, "Katara? My sister?" Yori nodded.

"I'm so, so sorry." It was then that Zuko and Mai walked in. Sokka had fresh tears and Suki wasn't far behind. They both had red eyes, and they weren't trying to hide it.

"What's going on?" Zuko said curiously.

"Are you okay?" Mai asked, the stale tone in her voice was disappearing. Zuko had noticed she showed more emotions then she use to; Suki had figured the Gaang was beginning to wear off on her.

"It's Katara," Sokka whispered, "Katara's the one who is going to die."

"What?" Zuko said, obviously taken aback, "How do you know?" Sokka pointed to Yori.

"My vision; she _might_ die, I don't know for sure." Zuko scoffed, 'Like that makes it any better…' he thought to himself.

"But I was under the impression that you don't believe in psychics," Mai said.

"I didn't but people are beginning to change my mind," everyone but Yori gasped, and Sokka threw them an annoyed look, "Anyway! This needs to be looked into; they could be in danger out there." He pointed out. Zuko nodded. They all stood there in silence for a while, thinking about what they were going to do next. Mai was looking around wondering why no one had come up with the idea she had, had since Sokka had begun talking. She sighed and shook her head.

"Just go looking for them dummies; the longer you stand here the harder it will be to find them. And the farther away they will be." She looked annoyed at the group in front of her.

"Umm… Yeah, that's a good idea." Yori said.

"Can you see any outcomes for it?" Suki asked her.

Yori shook her head, "My visions don't work like that. Most psychics can't control their visions. They're really spontaneous; usually they're stronger if they're connected to an earthbound spirit, or a spirit who can't let go."

"This might not be the right time," Suki said, "But what do you mean by, 'a spirit who can't let go'? I mean, I understand the earthbound one, which would be like the Avatar, but not the other one."

Yori giggled then composed herself quickly, "I mean a spirit like Kaya. Her family can't let her go, so she can't be free."

"What are you going on about?" Sokka said, slightly insulted.

"I'm saying that, until your family learns to let go, your mother will be trapped in limbo until the last person that loves her dies."

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Iroh was leading the small group through the many complicated and deadly traps the sun warriors had set. The sun was high in the sky and it was getting harder to keep cool. But the men weren't about to complain.

"Are you sure they are still here, Iroh?" Piandao asked calmly. Iroh nodded. He closed his eyes and remembered his last visit; _the sun was setting and it filled the sky with red, making any reflective surface give off the soft cherry glow. As he was leaving the mountain range he heard a strange but familiar noise, it was coming from the bushes. Iroh, being hesitant, inched over to the rustle in the bush. Before he reached it he saw all different colors, ones not given off by the sun set. 'Scales?' he thought to himself. He shook his head, 'Must be a trick of the light.' But he knew his own words weren't true. He continued walking, but he wasn't able to shake the feeling that something had followed him._

"What was that?" Jeong-Jeong raised an eyebrow at the trees to his left.

"Just what we need," Iroh said, "Hello chief."

"General Iroh," The man said, emerging from his hiding place behind a tree to their right, "How can we help you?" The man wore half a shirt, and had face paint and a strip of orange running from his forehead to his hips.

Iroh smiled but it soon faded, "Someone is threatening to destroy the balance, and kill for what they want, we need to reach them, and _fast_." He put emphasis on his last word.

"It will only carry three of you." The man said, looking at the group of five men standing before him.

"I know," Iroh said, "I just don't know which three yet." The man nodded knowingly.

"Come with me," He gestured towards a path, "I know a faster way to start your journey." The men nodded.

The six men walked, knowing there were people following them in the trees. The men were given water, and now the giant yellow circle in the sky didn't feel so hot. The path they were following had the brush cut just far back enough to make it easy to walk in a single file line. Anything else would have resulted in the men having cuts and bruises from all the thorns and branches determining the width of the path. The chief walked quickly, but the men were more then capable of keeping up. The sun was beginning to get lower in the sky, but it didn't make it any less hot. The wind was fairly silent that day, it barely ruffled the leaves. Piandao sighed; he closed his eyes and inhaled the scents around him. "Smells like home," He replied to Jeong-Jeong's curious look. The man just nodded and motioned for the master swordsman to continue one. Piandao, realizing he had slowed down, apologized and quickened his pace. When they stopped they were at a clearing. The grass waved slightly with the wind. A mixture of greens and browns filled the circle. One small tree was beginning to grow, close the edge. The two non-fire nation men gazed in awe at what was in front of them. A large, dark green, serpent-like creature was standing before them. Its neck reached high above the trees. Its teeth were like swords, and you could see how sharp from 100 feet away.

"Lee, Mushi," Iroh laughed to himself before continuing, never had he thought he would ever meet two men from the earth kingdom with those names, "One of the last dragons stands before you." Lee's eyes looked as it they might fall out of his head. Mushi gazed up at the beast in bewilderment, lips slightly parted.

"She's not as… judgmental as the others, but she will still need to… confirm who is going on this trip. Who did you have in mind?" The chief turned his attention to the old general.

"Myself," Iroh began, "Piandao and Lee."

"And what of us?" Jeong-Jeong began, but before anyone could answer, the dragon let out a loud snarl. Jeong-Jeong nodded, the dragon did not like him. The men gathered on the long neck of the green beast.

"Does she know how to get to the South Pole?" Iroh turned to the chief; he nodded 'yes' in response. "South. Pole." Iroh said, quite clearly. The dragon, understanding his words, pressed her knees to the ground, and then propelled herself up into the bright blue sky, slithering through the clouds. It was moving faster than any other mode of transport they had available to them.

Jeong-Jeong watched his comrades disappear off into the horizon. He then turned to the chief, "Why?" he asked.

The chief sighed and turned around, "You have not come to realize the true meaning of fire bending. The dragon sensed it and she refuses to help a firebender who hasn't realized it."

Jeong-Jeong nodded, "Is there any possible way to fix my dilemma?" The chief nodded and motioned for him follow. Jeong-Jeong headed back into the forest, with Mushi not far behind.

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Aang got up and looked at the group sleeping before him. They were all surrounding a now dead fire. Toph was on Appa's saddle, she had pushed Joy out when the ground was becoming too cold for her. The earthbender was snoring loudly; she was on her back and would, from time to time, kick at nothing in particular, grunting. Aang chuckled to himself, she was obviously dreaming about dueling someone. Aang looked around again and noticed he had been wrong. There was someone missing from the group; Katara. He began to search for her, he wasn't worried at first, but after twenty minutes with no luck he began to get a little frantic. He was about to start shouting her name when he saw her. She was on a cliff he hadn't checked before; she was dangling her feet over the edge. Her long brown hair ruffled in the wind. Her arms were behind her, supporting her back. She switched her gaze from the ocean to the moon occasionally. He exhaled in relief, "Katara?" he called. She turned her head towards him then turned her head back to looking at the moon. He completed the few steps to her and sat down putting his arm around her waist. She didn't protest, but she didn't lean in either. He sighed and stared at the water contemplating what he wanted to say. "Katara, we need to talk," he began, "About everything." She nodded, she knew he was right. But she didn't know if she wanted to talk about it. She sighed, letting him know that he could begin. "What has made you so upset? Lately, I mean." He looked at her, waiting for a response.

"My father," she said, as if it was obvious, he pushed for her to continue with the raising of his eyebrow, "How he was shot down… and it was aimed for me." She had whispered the last part. Aang looked shocked. He didn't know what to say. She wrapped her arms around her knees, "Someone tried to kill me, and now he's dying, and-"

"Katara, stop, it's not your fault. It was aimed for me most likely." He said, completely sure his words were true.

But she shook her head, "No, if it was aimed for you it would have hit him on the other side of his body." Aang tried to protest this point, but he knew she was right. "And I know who's responsible," Aang looked at her curiously; she gave him an odd look back but continued anyway, "Azula." She whispered. Aang just nodded his head. He had been ready to defend someone. But her accusation didn't seem too far off. He pondered the name for a while, it would make a lot of sense; he didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. She was upset with Katara, and would go to great lengths to exact her revenge; even kill. Aang looked over at Katara; she had tears rolling down her cheeks. He reached over and held her tight. "And all those people she hurt. It's all my fault." She started sobbing into his shoulder. He just held her close, knowing that if he tried to say words of comfort she would just reject him. They sat like that for a while; he stared at the waves, crashing against the ice and rocks. She stained his shirt with tears. When she seemed calm he began to ask her another question, but she held up her finger, silencing him, "Yes, she is the reason I have been so… distant. I've been so focused on her; I didn't really care about the people around me. Then I realized you could be hurt out here, and I hated myself even more." Aang looked at her, astonished. He looked deep into her eyes and held her face in his hands, "You can _never_ think that. Do you understand me? None of this is your fault. You have to believe that; believe me." She looked into his eyes for a while, his child-like grey eyes made her loose her train of thought; she inhaled taking in his scent then nodded her understanding. Aang stood up and took Katara's hand in his. She smiled at him, and then they started walking back to the camp. They snuggled up next to Appa and gratefully got a few hours more sleep.

The next morning Toph yelled for everyone to get up. The group groaned but they were too afraid of the small earthbender to protest. Hui asked Aang how long he thought it would take to get back home. She was stunned when he said they weren't going back. Toph, hearing the conversation, stumbled to Aang, grabbed a fist full of his shirt in her hand, and pulled him to her eye level, "And why not?" she whispered fiercely. Aang gulped, he was about to explain when Katara butted in.

"We're going after Azula, Toph. Now let go of him."

Toph scoffed but let go of her student and stumbled back close to where she was sitting before. Mei offered her some soup she had made for the group but Toph refused. Mei shrugged and gave it to Hui, who gladly accepted it; she held the bowl close to her chest, taking in the warmth. Aang gathered up their things with the help of the Kyoshi warriors. He explained why they were looking for Azula and that they needed to get moving if they wanted any hope of finding her. They weren't pleased with the idea, but went along anyway, since without Aang they didn't have a safe way home. After filling their stomachs with a warm breakfast they all gathered on Appa and began their search. They were all grouped; Appa, Katara, Toph and Momo were sitting on Appa's head, Piao, Zhong, and Mei were sitting in the front of the saddle, and Hui and the Kyoshi warriors were sitting in the back. It was a tight fit, but they knew that their mission was important. Katara didn't speak after that morning when she was yelling at Toph, she just had a glare on her face, and a single tear that was able to escape and fall down her cheek.

**AN: So, there was going to be more but I decided against it seeing as how I really like the ending. And, I hope that was enough Kataang for you romance lovers. (even though it wasn't really romance…) Okay, so, I recently read this fanfic (An avatar one of course), it was pretty good – not 'OH MY GOD MY LIFE HAS CHANGED' good, but still worth the read. But, THEY DIDN'T FINISH, like, WTF? (They even said they were going to) I _promise_ I will finish this story! (Unless, you know, you guys hate it or I die or something…) It makes me so mad!**

**All right, rant over. 11 should be up soon! (It's in progress as of right now) **

**And hey, you didn't have to wait 2 weeks this time! Hooray! xD**

**So; read, review, critique? Yes? No? Maybe? LOBSTER?**

**Stay Flamein'! ;)**

Luna

**P.S. - I want to do a fun fact! Kaya's name means 'pure'. FUN. FACT. **

**P.P.S. – If you want the name of the story I would be more then happy to tell you! (That is, if I can remember it) **


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Okay, say it, say every name in the book. Because I'm guilty! I'm a bitch, an ass… so on and so forth. I've been so busy – wedding, grad parties, not being home, friend over for three days, little bro stealing computer, going to friends for three days - and I had writers block. I sat at the computer looking at the screen going "Shit, I have no idea what to write or how to start… or finish…" I want to update quicker but don't expect frequent updates, I have three summer assignments that I need to finish – kill me… now – this week and I need to finish applications for jobs. So I'm going to be super busy. But I'll keep you guys in mind!**

**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do own a Tervis mug! No, it's just not the same…**

**Previously on Avatar:**

**Sokka told Suki why he's been so distant. Yori tells Sokka who might die; then tells them the problem Kaya is having. Iroh gets to the Dragon and Jeong-Jeong learns that he doesn't know the true meaning of firebending so he goes to seek it. Katara finally tells Aang why she has been so cold to everyone…**

**Now on with the show!**

**Luna**

Chapter 11: Missions, A Parent's Love, and A Fight 

The morning was cold and sent chills up the men's spines. There was not much to look at as they were flying over the vast ocean, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The sunlight sparkled off the white caps of the waves, and the whales and dolphins would occasionally disrupt the waves and give the men some entertainment. The longer they flew the more ice they would see in the water; and that meant they were closer to their destination. The dragon sometimes would fly back into the clouds and the men would lose track of where they were, then she would dip back down and they would see giant icebergs getting closer. The sun was blocked and every once in a while the beast would shiver, making nearly impossible to stay on. At one point, Lee, who was in the back, almost fell off; he was saved by Piandao's quick thinking and impressive strength to pull him back up. When they finally reached the South Pole the sight before them was impressive. The tall, white, mountains were home to some amazing animals, the penguins slid off cliffs and koala-seals swam in large groups. Sometimes a whale would appear and blow out water, showering the other animals. But the sight got boring, especially because they couldn't find any settlements. It had been a while since Iroh had been there and he wasn't quite sure which route they had taken. He suggested they check the areas close to the water, seeing as how that's were they found the village last. So, he turned the beast with the reins and they followed the coast line.

After a while of searching they were relieved to find plumes of smoke coming from a large circle cut into the ground. They landed just outside a village, they were lucky to find and empty stable and left the green dragon inside while they went to make sure they had landed in the right spot.

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Yori and Zuko were sitting at a table, over looking their plans again. They had decided that they were going to have to go on foot, and that – hopefully - they would catch up to the group before Azula had gotten to them. They were lucky in the fact that Aang had recently sent a map of where they had gone, so they had a general idea of where to look. Yori yawned as she was flipping to another paper; she had been up for almost twenty-four hours and it was starting to get to her. Zuko was yawning as well; he hadn't been up as long as Yori but he was just as tired. Suki and Sokka were with Hakoda and trying to help however they could. Mai had finally given into fatigue and had gone off to bed, she asked Zuko to come with her, but he refused, saying at least _someone_ needed to stay to help Yori plan their trip. She gave in to his decision and walked off to bed, but not before she made Zuko promise he wouldn't stay up too long. He had kissed her cheek and agreed. Yori later had asked what had happened to Ursa because she hadn't seen her lately. Zuko explained how she left to go to the Fire Nation, Ursa had said someone needed to lead the country and she didn't want to put it all on Iroh. Yori just looked at him funny, not knowing who Iroh was. Zuko had told her to forget it and Yori didn't press the conversation further. The sun was beginning to rise and Yori groaned; she hated staying up all night, it messed with her head and would give her strange, and sometimes fake, visions. She could hear the penguins outside their hut. All the animals had mysteriously been walking by the village; all in large groups and in single file lines, which waved like a serpent. No one had any idea what was going on, but Yori had an idea, she just didn't want to voice it and scare the village. Or get their hopes up. A couple hours later, when Suki and Sokka walked in, Zuko was fighting hard to keep his head from hitting the table and Yori was half asleep, holding up her head with her hand. Suki shooed them off to bed, saying they would get moving after dinner. Yori and Zuko agreed willingly and they all went back to their huts to get some rest. There were no windows in the huts so it was easy to drift off. Mai didn't disturb anyone until supper was over, but when she did – despite being so tired – they had no trouble getting up. They left the village and began walking. They towed behind them a sled, they had food, tents and supplies and extra clothes. They also had plenty of weapons. However they didn't get very far before they saw three figures in the distance.

"Hello?" Suki called out. She stuck up her hand and waved; trying to convince them they were friendly. It was difficult to see however, because it began to lightly snow, and the figures were just far enough away that it disrupted the view. "You think they're friendly?" she said looking over at Yori. Yori rolled her eyes and shrugged. They still didn't understand she couldn't just see the future at will. The three men were getting closer, and there faces were becoming visible.

"Hey… is that… is that, Iroh?" Sokka yelled. Zuko shot his head up and his eyes widened. He took off into a sprint, stopping just feet before the men standing before him.

"Uncle," He said. Iroh outstretched his arms and the men quickly embraced. They talked for a minute or so, and Zuko motioned for the rest of the group to follow them.

"What's going on," Mai said; dullness still in her voice. She reached for Zuko's hand whom intertwined his fingers with hers.

"We have a faster way to reach Aang and the others," Zuko explained.

"What?"

"Dragons, Suki, dragons," Iroh said. The group let out a collective gasp, but followed the men willingly. They quickened to the dragon. When they reached their destination the group let out another collective gasp – apart from Zuko. They deliberated for a minute deciding if it was safe. When they realized they had no real choice, they agreed. Mai had brought up a very good point twenty or so minutes later. "How do we find them," She had asked. No one had answered her, because, well, they had no idea. They thought for a while. While they were thinking the dragon followed the coast line.

"Towns," Sokka said, he continued when everyone looked at him, eyebrows rose, "Aang said something about following towns, because Momo would need to eat and he had grown accustomed to humans." They all nodded at his words, realized he had a very valid point. They had reached a town, but they were told that a group of teenagers past by not long ago, heading east. They followed the route, they saw only a few abandoned camps, and kept following the coast. Praying they were getting close.

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Aang and the group were setting up their last camp, they had found a trail and Aang said they had almost reached the end of it. They set up their camp; sleeping bags, campfire, tents, and food. They had landed on a hill, it wasn't exactly open but they could have been spotted. But Aang had convinced them that if it were to storm – the clouds were looking ominous that night – and they were in a valley, they would be in a lot more danger. No sooner had the group got a roaring fire going that something strange was showing up in the distance.

"What's that?" One of the girls yelled, pointing at something. It was strange, 'Is it… slithering…?' Katara thought. She had never seen anything like it. Well, except for a snake or a lizard, but those were on the ground. They looked at the beast curiously. They tried to get a better look; all squinting their eyes, but it didn't do any good. It was only when they landed that they noticed who was coming.

"Sokka?" Katara said, she rose an eyebrow, 'What are _you_ doing here?' she thought.

"KATARA," He yelled, he then proceeded to collide with his sister, almost knocking her to the cold, icy, ground, "You're alive!"

"_What_?" The group said in union. They then noticed a girl they had never met before.

"I'm sorry, Katara," Yori said to the confused waterbender, "But your in mortal danger." Katara's eyes widened in shock; that was not what she was expecting.

**AN: I know, I know, it's short. Horribly short! But it's been so long since I last updated I wanted to get you a chapter ASAP. So I'm really sorry! Again don't expect frequent updates, life is getting a lot more hectic. **

**One more thing before I go; I'm not holding this story hostage because lets face it, that's childish and stupid, but I would really appreciate some reviews before I update again. You pull me out of writers block when I read your reviews; I want to know what you think, even if you HATE it. Tell me. Kay thanks bye.**

**Stay Flamin'**

**Luna**


	12. AN

**AN: So guys, here's the deal. School is just crazy right now and the musical is big and there is just too much going on to be able to update. My grades are suffering and it's just… physics… biology… kill me now… I'm slowly writing this next chapter but I don't know when it will be up. I'm a beta reader for another story and I'm so backed up that it's sad. So, I'm apologizing. I hate updating and not giving you a chapter but it's just not possible at the moment. If you really like the story, I'm really sorry. If you don't care, continue on I suppose. **

** ~Luna**


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